Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, took the stage Wednesday night at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to praise Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's record and attack the Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
Biden started his speech by highlighting President Barack Obama's accomplishments over his eight-year term and also commended the character and personality of the President and First Lady Michelle Obama '85.
"[President Obama] is the embodiment of of honor, resolve, and character," Biden said. "And Michelle, I don't know where you are kid, but you're incredible."
Biden told the crowd about how "bittersweet" the moment was for him, since in 2008 and 2012, his son Beau Biden, who died in 2015 from cancer, had introduced him at the Democratic National Convention.
"You got a glimpse of what an incredibly fine young man Beau was," Biden said. "But as Ernest Hemingway once wrote, the world breaks everyone, and afterwards many are strong at the broken places."
Biden then praised the American spirit, calling Americans unbreakable and those who "keep going." He then praised Clinton for caring about all Americans and noted that she would work to change people's lives.
"She's always there. She's always been there," Biden said, referencing Clinton's compassion and understanding.
However, Biden noted that Clinton's life story is the polar opposite of Trump's. He said Trump lacked empathy and compassion and highlighted that Trump's trademark phrase, "you're fired," flies in the face of caring about the middle class.
"He's trying to tell us, he cares about the middle class, give me a break," Biden said. "That's a bunch ofmalarkey."
Biden reinforced the notion that for the country to be strong, the middle class has to do well. He then attacked Trump's lack of foreign policy experience, and said there has never been any major party candidate that has been less prepared to deal with national security.
"We cannot elect a man who exploits our fears of ISIS and other terrorists," Biden said. "We simply cannot let that happen as Americans, period."
Biden added that it's never been smart to bet against America, and that candidates who run fear-mongering campaigns never win. He said that his outlook for the country is more positive today than it was 30 years ago.
"The 21st century is going to be the American century," he said. "Because we lead by not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example"
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Students participating in an encampment on campus will be arrested and “immediately” barred from University grounds, Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun wrote in an email to undergraduates on Wednesday morning. The move serves as an unprecedented pre-emptive response to the growing trend of pro-Palestinian encampments that have gripped peer institutions.
