Democrats nominate Joe Biden for US president slot

WASHINGTON: Democrats formally nominated Joe Biden for president on Tuesday, with elder statesmen and rising stars promising he would repair a pandemic-devastated America and end the chaos of Republican President Donald Trump.

The convention’s second night, under the theme “Leadership Matters,” aimed to make the case that Biden would represent a return to normalcy.

“At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center,” former US President Bill Clinton said in a prerecorded video. “Instead, it’s a storm center. There’s only chaos. Just one thing never changes – his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame.”

With the four-day convention largely virtual due to the coronavirus, delegates from around the country cast votes remotely to confirm Biden as the nominee.

In clips from around the country, Democrats of all stripes explained why they were supporting Biden while putting their own state-specific spin on the proceedings, from a calamari appetizer in Rhode Island to a herd of cattle in Montana.

Following his home state of Delaware, which went last in his honor, Biden appeared live for the first time at a Delaware school, where his wife, Jill, was set to deliver the night’s headline address later in the evening.

“Thank you very, very much from the bottom of my heart,” said Biden, who will deliver his acceptance speech on Thursday. “It means the world to me and my family.”

The program started by showcasing some of the party’s rising politicians. But rather than a single keynote speech that could be a star-making turn, as it was for then-state Senator Barack Obama in 2004, the program featured 17 stars in a video address, including Stacey Abrams, the one-time Georgia gubernatorial nominee whom Biden once considered for a running mate.

“America faces a triple threat: a public health catastrophe, and economic collapse and a reckoning with racial justice and inequality,” Abrams said. “So our choice is clear: a steady experienced public servant who can lead us out of this crisis just like he’s done before, or a man who only knows how to deny and distract.”