President Biden: It's Been an Honor to Serve This Nation for More Than 50 Years

United States President Joe Biden. (Wikimedia Commons/The White House)

JAKARTA - United States President Joe Biden expressed his admiration and honor for serving the country for more than five decades.

Speaking from the Oval Office, White House, this was his first public appearance after being announced infected with COVID-19 last week and withdrawing from the US Presidential Election in November.

"My fellow Americans, it has been the honor of my life to serve this nation for more than 50 years. Nowhere else in the world could a stuttering child from a humble family in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Claymont, Delaware, one day be able to sit behind a sturdy desk in the Oval Office as President of the United States. But here I am," said President Biden (81), as reported by CNN on July 25.

"That's what's special about America. We are a nation full of promise and possibility, dreamers and doers, ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things," he added.

The Democratic politician said he had given his heart and soul to this country and had been blessed "a million times over by the love and support of the American people."

The incumbent went on to say that Americans will have many choices in this fall's presidential election:

"America must choose between progress and retreat, between hope and hatred, between unity and division. We must decide: Do we still believe in honesty, decency, respect? Freedom, justice, and democracy? In this moment, we can see those with whom we disagree not as enemies, but as fellow Americans. I believe I know the answers to these questions because I know you, the American people, and I know this: We are a great nation because we are a good people," he said.

He further framed the 2024 election as a fight to save democracy, saying nothing should stand in his way.

"I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America's future, all merit a second term. But nothing, nothing should stand in my way of saving our democracy, including personal ambition," he said.

"So, I have decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That is the best way to unite our nation," he added.