Hi. I’m former Secretary of State Colin Powell. One hundred years ago, a young immigrant left a dirt farm in Jamaica and moved to the United States. Three years later, a ship pulled into New York harbor, and a young Jamaican woman looked up at the Statue of Liberty for the first time. They became my parents, and they inspired me to finish college and join the army. This began a journey of service that would take me from basic training to fighting in Vietnam, up the rank to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State.
The values I learned growing up in the South Bronx and serving in uniform were the same values that Joe Biden’s parents introduced to him in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I support Joe Biden for the presidency of the United States, because these values still define him, and we need to return those values to the White House.
Our country needs a commander who takes care of our troops in the same way he would his own family. For Joe Biden, that is not a lesson needed. It comes from the experience he shares with millions of military families – sending his beloved son to war and praying to God that he would return home safely.
Joe Biden will be a president, we will all be proud of him. With Joe Biden in the White House, you will never doubt that he will stand with our friends and stand up against our opponents – never the other way around. He will trust our diplomats and our intelligence community, not the flutter of dictators and despots. He will make it his job to know when someone is threatening us. He will resist our power with power and experience. They will know he means business.
I support Joe Biden, because on Day One, he will restore the leadership of America and our moral authority. He will be a president who knows that America is the strongest, as, as he said, “We lead by both the power of our example and the example of our power.” He will restore America’s leadership to the world and restore the alliances we need to tackle the dangers that threaten our nation, from climate change to nuclear proliferation.
Today we are a divided country, and we have a president who does everything in his power to make it so and to keep us that way. What a difference it will make to have a President who unites us, who restores our strength and our soul. I still believe that in our hearts we are the same America that brought my parents to our shores, an America that inspires the world freedom. That will lead America’s Joe Biden as our next president. Thank you so much.
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