Joe Biden has prepared for major speeches throughout his presidency the same way: huddling with his closest advisers at Camp David, with few outside distractions to cloud the group’s brainstorming and editing sessions.
The routine for Biden’s opening night speech at the Democratic National Convention is no different, but the stakes couldn’t be more so.
Biden is now preparing to address his own political party after its most influential members — lawmakers, donors and, according to polls, voters — forced his hand to exit the race less than a month ago.
Advisers insist the speech is far from Biden’s farewell. He’ll campaign heavily for Vice President Kamala Harris in the coming months, they say, as well as try to cement his legacy and focus intently on foreign policy. The swan songs, they say, will come later.
Still, Monday’s speech in Chicago is likely to be the biggest audience Biden will have before November’s election. After 50 years in public life, it’s one of his final chances to make his case for his legacy and his view of the country.
Those close to him say he will want to talk about the progress the US made in the last three and a half years, an appeal expected to be supplemented by highly produced visuals showcasing the evolution of the country’s economy from Covid-era school closures and employees working from home to an America that’s fully open for business.
He’ll argue Harris is the natural successor to that record, and will frame his work in office as a foundation for her to build upon. In keeping with the touchstones of both his 2020 and truncated 2024 runs, he’ll issue warnings that Donald Trump poses a dire threat to democracy. He’ll argue Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, must be elected to safeguard the country from that continued threat.
And, as he told reporters before heading off to Camp David on Friday, he’ll offer a concise message to Democrats heading into the final heat of the election: “Win.”
“President Biden will make a forceful case to continue our progress and beat back attempts to erase it by electing Vice President Harris and Governor Walz,” said White House communications director Ben LaBolt. “He’ll do so by reflecting on how much we’ve overcome and the stakes of the moment: from an economy that was flat on its back to the strongest in the world, overcoming a once in a century pandemic, and defending democracy at home and abroad.”
It’s not the speech he was once planning or hoping to make. As recently as a month ago, Biden was moving forward with plans to headline the convention on Thursday night, speaking not as a beloved figure departing the stage but as the party’s nominee.
The prolonged effort to nudge him from the top of the Democratic ticket left scars, and people familiar with his thinking say Biden is still processing what happened.
Still, in his mind, the unhappy process that resulted in his withdrawal did have an upside for Democrats. The party coalesced quickly around Harris, in no small part because Biden endorsed her out of the gate. And instead of entering the convention under scrutiny for his age and capabilities, the 81-year-old president is arriving as the party leader who put aside his ambitions for the sake of the country.
Biden aides say his immediate endorsement of his vice president was singularly important for avoiding a fractured convention, and that the president has been genuinely impressed with the enthusiasm and energy behind the new Harris-Walz ticket.
For his advisers, that is the political legacy they hope Biden will be recognized for in this moment: helping make Harris possible. He decided to pick her to be vice president, selecting her over other running mate options, and then decided to endorse her as soon as he dropped out of the race, stopping others who might have thought about challenging her. Doing so allowed Harris to become the first woman of color to ascend to the top of a major-party ticket.
Some Biden aides argue he’s also given Harris policy successes, including cutting the prices for prescription drugs and overseeing a drop in crime. The president has helped undercut traditional Republican attack lines on the economy and crime, they argue, in a way that keeps Harris from getting sandbagged herself.
But it’s not all a gift. Harris will still need to navigate an electorate that gives Biden poor marks on the economy and immigration.
Looking at the economic agenda Harris started to roll out last week, those aides see a candidate benefitting from better feelings about the economy, and who is building on Biden ideas: pitching a renewal and expansion of the child tax credit, for example.
Still, Biden has accepted he is in a supportive role for the rest of the campaign. Once he walks offstage Monday night, advisers tell CNN he may campaign for Harris — particularly in Pennsylvania — but he won’t push to be on the trail unless she and her aides ask him to.
Anita Dunn, who was until recently one of Biden’s top strategists, told CNN that it’s something even less tangible — but perhaps more potent — that she sees in thinking about how the last few weeks have reshaped the perception of the president.
“For a large chunk of voters in this country — Democratic voters in particular — he is the person who defeated Trump, put in place an enormous, aggressive, forward-looking set of policies that are transforming this country’s economy and transforming other pieces of this country, and then stepped aside for Kamala Harris,” Dunn said.
Expecting an outpouring for Biden at the United Center, Dunn said those good feelings may help lift Harris too.
“He’s been able to go back and recapture a lot of that emotion people felt about him that just naturally, as president, tended to dissipate because people didn’t feel they have that same personal connection,” she said.
Boarding Marine One on Friday for Camp David — with a brief stop in Philadelphia — Biden was joined by Mike Donilon, his decadeslong communications and political adviser who recently rejoined the White House to shepherd Biden through his final months in public service.
Donlion has helmed the process for all of Biden’s major speeches, including most recently the address he delivered from the Oval Office last month on his decision to end his reelection bid.
In that address, Biden told Americans that “History is in your hands” — an entreaty to take seriously an election with the highest of stakes. Inside the convention hall on Monday, the quote will be broadcast on large screens.
Four years earlier, Biden told voters he planned to be a transition candidate, implying he planned to serve one term before passing the torch. But one month ago, when asked why he had abandoned that notion, he said, “What changed was the gravity of the situation I inherited in terms of the economy, our foreign policy and domestic division.”
And yet, his speaking slot is a clear sign of an implicit transition. Those involved in the planning expressed a desire to give Biden a venue to cement his legacy and his views of what his presidency accomplished.
Over the course of his political career, Biden has spoken at a dozen conventions but never had one of his own — even when he was the party’s nominee. Biden’s pandemic-era anointing by the party in 2020 became a virtual affair, as he delivered his acceptance speech from a near-empty offshoot room in a Wilmington, Delaware, convention hall.
The convention stage holds particular weight for Biden, who has for decades elevated competitors while ultimately seeking the highest office.
Toward the end of an eight-year run as the vice president in 2016, a year in which he had been passed over by the party’s powers-that-be, he set his personal pride aside to praise the outgoing Democratic chief.
Barack Obama was the “embodiment of honor, resolve and character,” Biden said to cheers. “He’s one of the finest presidents we’ve ever had.”
The thousands of Philadelphia convention-goers that year were bobbing signs that said “Joe” and “Scranton,” a reference to Biden’s working-class roots and personal proximity to the hardscrabble city.
On Monday, references to Biden will be just as widespread. Another one of his favorite phrases — “Spread the faith” — will be seen on signs. Delegates will receive bags that feature coffee as a nod to “Cup of Joe,” along with other items from local partners and vendors.
And some staff from Biden’s 2020 campaign have organized a post-speech party on Monday for alumni of the wide Biden network, a source involved in the planning said.
First lady Jill Biden — whom sources had said was prepared to support Biden this summer no matter what he decided about his political future — will also now speak Monday at the convention.
But once the night is over, Biden will leave Chicago for vacation in Southern California, and the convention will turn its attention to his chosen successor.
