Looking and performing better than he had for months, the president acknowledged that he had to step down, telling his fellow Democrats 'I love my job, I love my country more.'
It was as awkward as it was affectionate - the farewell to a president who didn't want to go from a party that couldn't bear him to stay. 'We love Joe,' they chanted, waving banners that said the same. They were all pals now. Had he still been running, Mr Biden would have left the stage to the sound of his own footsteps. On the night, he looked and performed better than he had for months. Stepping down suits him as much as it suits his party.
It was father of the nation stuff - nothing we hadn't heard before - that ran through his results and styled himself as a saviour of democracy. 'Thank you Kamala, too,' he told the crowd, even if this felt more like a speech for his past than her present - his legacy and her presidential fight. It will all help his successor. When the political honeymoon period evolves into harder interrogation, Kamala Harris will be selling and defending their joint record in the White House.
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