Biden delivers farewell remarks | Full speech

Members of the cabinet, all the staff that's here, from all across all the agencies, and friends, supporters, Joe and I are forever grateful to you. I mean that. We're genuinely grateful. As you heard me say before, no president gets to choose the moment they enter history, but they get to choose the team they enter history with, and we chose the best damn team in the world. You are. It's because of you, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, because of you we got so much done for all Americans. I look down there at my Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, and he's only by his wife who worked for me first. But look, I only hope to look back in these years, I hope you look back on them, the same pride I have of all you've done, and I'm proud, I'm proud of is that you did it upholding the core values of honesty, decency, and integrity. I mean, no scandal. I mean, it's incredible what you did, and you represent the best of who we are as Americans. That's not a joke. That's real. I've already relied on your ideas, resolve, and counsel. We also, also relied on your family. To all your families, thank you, thank you, thank you for the sacrifices you made. I mean it, for being part of this journey. Every day, I'm deeply moved by all we all did for this country. I really mean it. History's going to mark down just what you did. You know, but the point I want to make today is to make clear my farewell address, as we all do have more to, we have a lot more to do. We heard the inaugural address today, we've got a lot more to do. I looked, I know from many years of experience, there are ups and downs, but we have to stay with it. My dad taught me the measure of first, you've heard me say it before, is how quickly they get back up when they get knocked down. That's what we have to do right now, and we've always done our best as Americans. We never, never, never give up, never. We're leaving office, but we're not leaving the fight. You're brave, you're smart, you're skilled, you're passionate. The country needs you again, so all of you kids, stay engaged in all the ways you can, whether it's in public service, the private sector, philanthropy, academia, running for office yourself, or anything else you choose to do. I give you my word, we believe in you. We, Jill and I, our family, believe in you. Just as I've said, how the laws we enacted, our seeds are going to grow and bloom for decades to come, I say that to you as well. I have no doubt, no doubt you'll make this experience and take in the friendship you made, you made to continue to do amazing things in decades to come. That's why I see a future, all, all of them leading the way by you all. You know, so take some time to decompress, reconnect with your friends, spend more time with your family, but most of all, take care of yourselves and each other. I mean it. Let me close where I began, with my sincere gratitude, and I really mean it, from the bottom of my heart, I've been doing this for 50 years, and the best group of people, hard to say, it's been the honor of my life to serve as your president, and I tell you what, the greater honor is being able to serve with all of you. You're incredible. You really are. Mark my words, this is going to judge what you've done as one of the most significant contributions that's been made by all of America. Look folks, you know, let me close with that poem you heard me quote before. Seamus Heaney wrote, once in a lifetime, the long, far tidal wave of justice will rise up in hope of Mr. Grime. You've made it rhyme louder than it's rhymed in a long time. I really mean it. We're on the cusp of real change, so let's make hope in Mr. Grime. I love y'all. I've been keeping you too long, but thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you. All right. Remarkable. We were just hearing President, former President Joe Biden with Dr. Jill Biden by his side as he says farewell and thank you. He spoke of gratitude. He said it was the honor of his life to be president, and notably he said he's leaving office but he's not leaving the fight, which I think a lot of Democrats are trying to find that energy back within themselves. Yeah, you listened to President Trump there during his inaugural address, essentially casting doubt on President Biden's, now former President Biden's time in office as well. So this was his moment to respond to some of those criticisms as well as he gets ready to take off for California here during this special ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, which is just outside of Washington, D.C. President and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden are headed to California for some personal time. You know, when we think about the job of a president, it is 24-7, 365. There is no off time. There is no downtime. It is relentless. There are challenges at every turn. And I'm thinking about them as they are moving into this next phase of their own journey, their brand new great grandparents again. And when they talk to the team that has worked with them so long about reconnecting with family, that's probably something that they, too, are looking forward to doing. You don't have a whole lot of space or grace for that in the role. The country comes first. And as you said, Simone, President Biden talked about this being the honor of a lifetime. And it's a job that feels like a lifetime is poured into those years, however many you have serving the nation. Yeah, you can see right here, he's saying goodbye to some of his former cabinet officials I mean, so few people can say they've spent 50 years, half a century in service to the United States. And Leslie, you touched on just a moment ago, so you did as well. They're going to California. This is where they went, Santa Barbara area, after the DNC. This is where they go to really decompress. We know they love Rehoboth Beach as well. And the long-term question here is, is where are they going to do, where are they going to live? Where are they going to do life long-term after all this is said and done? This is such a contrast. Remember when he was done as vice president, he took the Amtrak back to Delaware. I think that's what everybody kind of thought, they're going to just hop on the train and go on back to Delaware. I guess the former president cannot do that anymore. Totally different protocols. What struck me too is, I was reading earlier that the tone from the Bidens had been joy, gratitude today. And I'm glad to see that still being the pervasive theme. Because when we heard Donald Trump giving his inaugural speech, he called it Liberation Day. And the feeling was an overwhelming condemnation of the Biden administration and what they had brought forth. And so to see he was kind of making jokes about it, unfazed. He's riding off into the sunset along with Dr. Joe Biden. Yeah, unlike the rest of the nation, he had to actually sit there and listen to it, listen to it from the person who is succeeding him. So that's quite a thing that happens year after year in these transitions when another president comes in and a new administration comes in. But as we see, this is a familiar transition here. The outgoing president and first lady preparing to depart for their next whatever that is. And they usually board a plane. I'm not sure if it's the same Air Force One plane. It's technically not called that anymore. Oh, yes. Not president, but special air mission. What is it? Special air mission. I think it's just so fascinating, too, as we watch the Bidens depart, Jill, Dr. Biden rather, has so been known for the strength and the backbone of being Joe's support in terms of you think of a first lady and what her duties are and such. And she has been his champion, his fighter, his backbone. Even when recently we've seen some conflict with Nancy Pelosi and whether Joe Biden should step aside so Kamala could step up. And Joe Biden has had his back every step of the way. And it's nice to see them hand in hand here. And you can tell they're not done. I mean, it's not OK with ending his presidency this way. You have to think about your legacy from this point as well. So so how does that take shape in these months and years ahead? Well, clearly they are going to be doing more. When I talked with Joe Biden, first lady Joe Biden back in December, she said they she still got passion projects. She's still got things she wants to do. She's still got energy to do it. You know, the the thing I think a lot of people may not recall or remember all the time when we talk about this presidency and the partnership they had is that Dr. Jill Biden was also a teacher, a professor at Northern Virginia Community College, teaching classes, grading papers, trying to mold the next generation of young educators. And so even in her role as first lady, which we'll talk a lot more about later in our inaugural show, she was the rare first lady who was working in this role as the first lady and a teacher and an instructor and doing the work on behalf of the nation. And they're saying goodbye. Really quickly, I love that he's still wearing the sunglasses. Yeah. He's like, I have to go out on that note. That's how we we've come to see the now former president throughout his time serving. You know, look, as the door is getting ready to close on special air mission and as the Bidens go off to California to decompress a little bit, something Joe Biden is leaving the office of the presidency with is a sense, an overwhelming sense of decency, an overwhelming sense of being a good human. And much like we saw with Jimmy Carter, right. What is the post presidency going to look like? And will that impact carry forward even more so than the impact of his presidency? You heard him tell his staffers, his now former staffers, that as well. He said, history is going to judge you well in all of your efforts here while we were in office, stay engaged. I know one thing for sure that they will most definitely be involved in is the cancer moonshot. Losing their son, Bo, was a devastating blow. They have been deeply committed to trying to find funds and research to eradicate cancer, not just around the nation, but around the world. So I can imagine that that will have some role in their next part of the journey post presidency. And they had so much to do while he was in office. Remember, when he took office, he made it a point to mention, mention those efforts when it comes to cancer research. But as he said here as well during his departure speech, you know, you can't determine what happens while you're in office. Clearly, he was he had to deal with a lot. Another quote he had shared was the measure of a person has how quickly they get back up after they've been knocked down. And when you think of, you know, Joe Biden's legacy, not only as a president, but as a politician, how often he had experienced that very thing and had to quite literally pick himself up, whether he was facing public doubts as a vice president or, you know, could he lead the Democratic Party as a president? I thought it was really poignant that he shared that before he left.