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Bill Clinton DNC speech, 2020
Date: November 3, 2020 |
 Donald Trump Joe Biden Howie Hawkins Jo Jorgensen
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The Democratic National Committee (DNC) held its presidential nominating convention the week of August 17, 2020, across four stages in New York City, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Wilmington.[1][2]
The convention was originally scheduled to take place July 13-16, 2020, in Milwaukee.[3] Organizers postponed the event in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Most of the convention's events took place remotely. The DNC announced in June 2020 that delegates should not plan to travel to Milwaukee to attend the convention.[4] Instead, votes on reports from the Rules, Platform, and Credentials committees took place remotely from August 3-15, 2020.[5]
The Democratic National Convention Committee announced on August 5, 2020, that former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and other speakers would not travel to Milwaukee.[6] Biden was formally nominated at the convention on August 18, 2020.[7]
Biden announced U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D) as his running mate on August 11, 2020.[8] Harris was the first Black woman to appear on a major party's ticket in the United States.[9]
Bill Clinton's speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention
This section provides the text and video of the 2020 Democratic National Convention speech given by former President Bill Clinton on August 18, 2020.
Transcript
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Good evening. A presidential election is the world's most important job interview. At the end we hire a leader to help us solve problems, create opportunities, and give our kids better tomorrows. That's a tall order this year, with the COVID-19 outbreak on a path to killing 200,000 people and destroying millions of jobs and small businesses. How did Donald Trump respond? At first he said the virus was under control and would soon disappear. When it didn't, he was on TV every day bragging on what a great job he was doing, while scientists waited to give us vital information. When he didn't like the expert advice he was given, he ignored it. Only when COVID exploded in even more states did he encourage people to wear masks. By then many more were dying. When asked about the surge in deaths, he shrugged and said, 'It is what it is.' But did it have to be this way? No. COVID hit us much harder than it had to. We have just 4 percent of the world's population, but 25 percent of the world's COVID cases. Our unemployment rate is more than twice as high as South Korea's, 2 1/2 times the United Kingdom's, and more than three times Japan's. Donald Trump says we're leading the world. Well, we are the only major industrial economy to have its unemployment rate triple. At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center. Instead, it's a storm center. There's only chaos. Just one thing never changes—his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. The buck never stops there. Now you have to decide whether to renew his contract or hire someone else. If you want a president who defines the job as spending hours a day watching TV and zapping people on social media, he's your man. Denying, distracting, and demeaning works great if you're trying to entertain and inflame. But in a real crisis, it collapses like a house of cards. COVID doesn't respond to any of that. To beat it, you've got to go to work and deal with the facts. Our party is united in offering you a very different choice: a go-to-work president. A down-to-earth, get-the-job-done guy. A man with a mission: to take responsibility, not shift the blame; concentrate, not distract; unite, not divide. Our choice is Joe Biden. Joe helped bring us back from a recession before, and he can do it again. In 2009, Barack Obama and Joe Biden started with the worst economy since the Great Depression and when they were done, they had delivered more than six straight years of job growth. What did Joe do? He accepted responsibility for implementing the Recovery Act. His work created a lot of new jobs and started many new companies in communities across America. Now Joe is committed to building America back again. How? He's given us smart detailed plans to invest in areas vital to our future: innovative financing for factories and small businesses; good jobs in green energy and conservation to combat climate change; a modern infrastructure that brings small town and rural America the connectivity and investment others take for granted; and a plan to ensure that Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, women, immigrants, and other communities left behind are full participants in the economy and our society. Joe Biden wants to build an economy far better suited to our changing world. Better for young people. Better for families, working and raising their kids. Better for people who lost jobs and need new ones. Better for farmers tired of being collateral damage in trade wars. Better for workers caring for the sick, elderly, and people with disabilities. Better because of a living wage, and access to affordable higher education and health care, including prescription drugs, childcare, a secure retirement, and paid family and medical leave. Joe won't just put his signature on a check and try to fool you into thinking it came from him. He'll work to make sure that your paycheck reflects your contribution to, and your stake in, a growing economy. In this job interview, the difference is stark. You know what Donald Trump will do with four more years: blame, bully, and belittle. And you know what Joe Biden will do: build back better. It's Trump's 'Us vs. Them' America against Joe Biden's America, where we all live and work together. It's a clear choice. And the future of our country is riding on it. Thank you.[10] |
” |
| —Former President Bill Clinton, August 18, 2020[11] | ||
Video
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Democratic National Convention keynote addresses, 1992-2016
The following Democratic Party members and elected officials were the keynote speakers at Democratic national conventions between 1992 and 2016.[12][13]
- Elizabeth Warren, U.S. senator from Massachusetts (2016)
- Julián Castro, then-mayor of San Antonio (2012)
- Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia (2008)
- Barack Obama, then-state senator from Illinois (2004)
- Harold Ford Jr., then-representative from Tennessee (2000)
- Evan Bayh, then-governor of Indiana (1996)
- Zell Miller, then-governor of Georgia (1992)
2020 Democratic National Convention
- See also: Democratic National Convention, 2020
The Democratic National Committee held its presidential nominating convention the week of August 17, 2020.[1] The convention was originally scheduled to take place July 13-16, 2020.[3] Organizers postponed the event in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Click on any of the links below to learn more about the 2020 Democratic National Convention and the Democratic primary process:
- 2020 Democratic National Convention schedule and speakers
- Joe Biden presidential nomination acceptance speech, 2020
- Democratic National Convention keynote address, 2020
- Democratic presidential nomination, 2020
- Superdelegates and the 2020 Democratic National Convention
- Democratic delegate rules, 2020
- Democratic presidential primary debates, 2020
2016 Democratic National Convention
- See also: Democratic National Convention, 2016
The Democratic National Committee held its presidential nominating convention from July 25-28, 2016, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[14] Hillary Clinton received the party's nomination.
Click on any of the links below to learn more about the 2016 Democratic National Convention:
Recent news
See also
- Presidential election, 2020
- Democratic National Convention, 2020
- Democratic National Convention, 2016
- Democratic National Committee
- Republican National Convention, 2020
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "2020 DNC in Milwaukee pushed back to week of August 17 in response to coronavirus pandemic," April 2, 2020
- ↑ CNN, "5 things to know for August 17: USPS, coronavirus, DNC, Russia investigation, Belarus," August 17, 2020
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The New York Times, "Milwaukee Picked as Site of 2020 Democratic National Convention," March 11, 2019
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCNBC - ↑ ABC News, "Democrats announce convention schedule, party officers for 2020 gathering transformed by coronavirus," July 29, 2020
- ↑ ABC News, "Biden will no longer travel to Milwaukee for DNC amid coronavirus concerns," August 5, 2020
- ↑ AP, "Biden formally clinches Democratic presidential nomination," June 5, 2020
- ↑ Twitter, "Joe Biden," August 11, 2020
- ↑ CNBC, "Joe Biden picks Sen. Kamala Harris to be his vice presidential running mate, making her the first black woman on a major ticket," August 11, 2020
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ CNN, "Transcript: Bill Clinton's DNC speech," August 18, 2020
- ↑ Washington Examiner, "Former convention keynote speakers: Where are they now?" July 18, 2016
- ↑ Huffington Post, "Elizabeth Warren To Keynote Democratic Convention," July 25, 2016
- ↑ CBS Local, "Philadelphia Hotel Rooms Get The Once Over By DNC Planners," April 27, 2015
