WASHINGTON ― President Joe Biden traveled to the state that helped catapult him to the White House on his final full day in office, telling worshippers at a church in North Charleston, South Carolina “we must hold on to hope” and “stay engaged.”
“We must always keep the faith in a better day to come,” Biden said at a morning service at Royal Missionary Baptist Church, a historically Black congregation. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m not kidding.
“People of South Carolina: Thank you for keeping the faith. It’s been the honor of my life to serve as your president.”
Biden is set to leave the White House Monday before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. Biden has not revealed his post-presidency plans but has promised he will remain active. He intends to write a book, the White House confirmed last week.
“As I close out this journey with you, I’m just as passionate about our work as I was as a 29-year-old kid. When I got elected, I wasn’t old enough to serve yet. I’m in no ways tired,” the 82-year-old Biden said, echoing one of the favorite hymns of The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. ahead of Monday’s holiday honoring the civil rights icon.
“Nobody told me the road would be easy,” Biden said. “I don’t believe he brought me this far to leave me. My fellow Americans, I don’t think the good Lord brought us this far to leave us behind.”
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Biden’s 2020 Democratic presidential primary win in South Carolina, fueled by his strength with Black voters, was critical in reigniting his campaign when it appeared on the brink of collapse after primary losses in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.
“I prayed with you here in February of 2020 when I was running for president,” Biden said. “On my final full day as president, of all the places, I wanted to be was back here with you.”
Biden added: “I owe you big. As they say where I come from, you’re the guys that brought me to the dance.”
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Key to Biden’s 2020 South Carolina victory was the endorsement of Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., a close Biden ally who sat next to the president Sunday on a front row pew during the service.
“I would not be standing here at this pulpit if not for Jim Clyburn,” Biden said.
Biden is exiting the White House with a mixed legacy and a favorability rating of just 34%, according to a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll released this week. Meanwhile, Americans by a 52%-45% margin now say they approve of Trump’s job performance during his first term ‒ a rosier assessment than he received while in office
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Since the November election, Biden has faced finger-pointing from Democrats who argue he helped lead to Trump’s return to office by waiting until 107 days until the election to drop out of the race, potentially limiting the time Vice President Kamala Harris had to mount her campaign.
Former South Carolina state Sen. Marlon Kimpson, who introduced Biden, lauded the president for approving historic funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, appointing a record number of Black judges to the federal bench and appointing Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.
“History will mind us forever, President Biden, that you were a great United States president,” Kimpson said.
Clyburn, in remarks during the service, said: “I’m here today, with my longtime friend, thanking him for not being silent”
“Joe Biden has been what this country needed. People don’t always appreciate it,” Clyburn said, “but when people look back, they appreciate. So I want to say to you, good friend. Very little appreciation has been shown recently. But faint not.”
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
