Biden to UN: "Some things are more important than staying in power"
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Biden leaves the stage for the last time at the UN General Assembly. Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
President Biden used his fourth and final speech to the UN General Assembly to reflect on his five decades in public life and advise his fellow leaders that "some things are more important than staying in power."
The big picture: Biden is preparing to leave the world stage with war grinding on in Ukraine, another expanding in the Middle East, and with the future of America's global role hingeing on November's election. While he acknowledged those challenges, Biden was reflective and stubbornly optimistic, reminding his audience that humanity had endured times that felt even more desperate.
What he's saying: "Things can get better," Biden said, noting that he was elected to the Senate at the height of the Vietnam War but presided over a friendly and fruitful relationship with Vietnam five decades later.
- Biden contended that even now, the state of the world is not as bleak as during past crises. "The center has held," he argued, noting global cooperation to defeat the pandemic and stand with Ukraine.
- He skirted over facts that views on the war in Ukraine vary sharply among his fellow leaders, and that the rich world had hoarded global vaccine supplies.
- Seemingly alluding to a potential second Trump presidency, Biden called on his fellow leaders to resist "the desire to retreat from the world and go it alone."
- Biden called on the assembled leaders to stand firm behind Ukraine, push Israel and Hamas to accept a ceasefire deal, and pressure the opposing generals in Sudan's brutal civil war to "end this war now."
Zoom in: Looking to the future, Biden said he anticipates more technological change in the next "two to ten years than in the last 50 years," thanks largely to AI.
- "In the years ahead, there may well be no greater test of our leadership than how we deal with AI," Biden said, calling for urgent efforts to set standards for its use and development.
Zoom out: "I've seen a remarkable sweep of history," Biden said, joking to laughter in the hall that "I know I look like I'm only 40."
- After starting with a flashback to the beginning of his political career, Biden finished by acknowledging its end.
- "Being president has been the honor of my life," he said, adding that "there's so much more I want to get done," but he'd realized it was "time for a new generation of leadership to take this country forward."
- Emphasizing the importance of protecting democracy, and earning applause from his audience in the hall, Biden said: "some things are more important than staying in power."
