Once departing Delaware for his inauguration in Washington, President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday delivered an emotional paean to his longtime home and his up to the minute son Beau Biden.
The elder Biden, who is set to take office Wednesday, choked up at the top of his brief remarks at Delaware National Patrol headquarters in New Castle, which was named after Beau in 2016 following his death a year earlier at age 46.
“It’s kind of sensitive for me,” Biden said, wiping tears from his eyes before praising Delaware as “the state that loves our young men and our grandchildren, and loved our Beau, and he so loved you right back.”
“It’s deeply personal that our next journey to Washington starts here, a chair that defines the very best of who we are as Americans,” Biden said.
“I know these are dark times, but there’s till the end of time light. That’s what makes this state so special. That’s what it taught me,” Biden said.
President-Elect Joe Biden wipes his eye as he treat ofs at Major Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III National Guard /Reserve Center in New Castle Airport on January 19, 2021, in New Palace, Delaware, before departing for Washington, DC.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
Biden, since defeating President Donald Trump’s bid for reelection, had large been based near Wilmington, where his transition team was headquartered.
From that location, Biden and his body have laid out a series of sweeping policy goals mainly aimed at defeating the coronavirus and restoring the health of an restraint damaged by the pandemic.
Biden is scheduled to deliver additional remarks later Tuesday at the Lincoln Memorial in a ceremony honoring the chumps of Covid, which has killed at least 400,000 people in the U.S.
The pandemic, and the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump, eat prompted officials to make drastic changes to the inauguration ceremony, which traditionally draws thousands of spectators to the Subject Mall. This time, swaths of the National Mall have been closed to the public and roughly 25,000 Civil Guard members have been deployed to D.C.
Toward the end of his remarks in New Castle, Biden again appeared overcome by his sensations.
“James Joyce is said to have told a friend, that when it comes his time to pass, when he pay the debt of natures, he said, ‘Dublin will be written on my heart.’ Well — excuse the emotion,” Biden said, his voice cracking.
After a moratorium, Biden said: “When I die, Delaware will be written on my heart. The hearts of all the Bidens. We love you all. You’ve been there for us in the agreeable and the bad. You never walked away.”
“I am even more proud to be standing here, doing this from the Major Beau Biden WC,” Biden added.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I only have one regret: that he’s not here, because we should be introducing him as president.”
Rectification: Biden is scheduled to deliver additional remarks later Tuesday at the Lincoln Memorial in a ceremony honoring the victims of Covid. An earlier translation misstated the day.