Jen Psaki Reveals the Most Powerful Lines from Biden’s Final Message to America

Outgoing President Joe Biden received high marks from many political commentators for his farewell address delivered on Wednesday — and that was because of a particularly resonant fact about the speech, former White House press secretary turned MSNBC commentator Jen Psaki wrote on Thursday.

A key moment that exemplified this, she argued, was the beginning of his speech, where Biden delivered a powerful bit of symbolism involving the Statue of Liberty.

“Like America, the Statue of Liberty is not standing still,” said Biden. “Her foot literally steps forward atop a broken chain of human bondage. She’s on the march. And she literally moves. She was built to sway back and forth to withstand the fury of stormy weather, to stand the test of time because storms are always coming. She sways a few inches, but she never falls into the current below.”

Put another way, wrote Psaki, “Biden didn’t promise the American people that the government — the Supreme Court, Congress, the president — will protect them from the storm, instead, he told the American people they’ll have to protect themselves.

With this speech, Biden didn’t pass the baton to his successor, as he would likely do if it were any other politician, he passed the baton to them. To that end, the last few lines of the president’s speech were, perhaps, the most striking. Biden told the American people that it’s their turn ‘to stand guard.'”

Biden noted his necessary and important duty in assuring a peaceful transition of power, but — Psaki said — he made abundantly clear in his speech that he was counting on a very different sort of power to lead the way after he leaves.

“Biden’s final message to America was that we cannot count on these people to protect us,” she concluded. “We have to protect ourselves, all of us, and the institutions that make America what it is.”