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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President
For Immediate Release January 22, 2012


REMARKS BY VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
TO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE MEMBER RECEPTION

Omni Shoreham Hotel
Washington, D.C.

3:25 P.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: There you go. All right. Hi, everybody. How are you? (Applause.)

First of all, let me begin by saying, thank you. I think you're all crazy, but I love you. (Laughter.) I love you, man. This is amazing. You have done such an incredible job for us.

All the folks who are leaving leadership posts, I just want to say, thanks. Thank you so much for your service. Mike Honda has done a great job, Congressman. (Applause.) And Linda Chavez-Thompson and Alice Germond -- (applause) -- and I tell what, a woman I've come to know very well, because she sent every single solitary potential contributor to the house to say, Joe, talk to them -- (applause) -- Jane Stetson. I don't know if Jane is here, but Jane is tired of seeing me, but I have enjoyed working with Jane, as well.

Those of you who are continuing in your role, thank you for be willing to do so. I know you'll continue to do the great job you've done. Donna Brazile, I don't know how you keep doing it, kid -- (applause) -- but I tell you, you are the best, man, you are the best. You are the best.

And Andy Tobias, I don't know if Andy is here, but Andy, thank you. You've been in the trenches so long. I thought by now you'd be smart enough to get out -- (laughter) -- but thank you so much.

And Mayor R.T. Rybak, good to see you, Mr. Mayor. And an old friend from former days, Ray Buckley. I mean, anybody who could handle being chair in New Hampshire can do anything. So, I mean -- but thank you all.

And for those of you who are starting your new roles, you've got some big shoes to fill. And we all know that you can and will do it.

Tulsi, I tell you what, being a new congresswoman as well as a veteran, you'll be able to take this place by storm. There's going to be no problem. And Maria Elena Durazo and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake -- Stephanie, I don't know whether you're here or not, but good luck with the Ravens. (Laughter.)

And the guy who has become a really close friend, and I'm delighted he's come in to take on Jane's slot, Henry -- Henry Munoz is here. I don't know if he's here, but I know he's taken it on.

So you've got quite a team you've got staying with you and putting together.

And I want to say a special word about Debbie. I don't want to turn this into a mutual admiration society -- (applause) -- but hasn't she been an amazing National Chairwoman? I mean, she has been absolutely amazing. (Applause.)

I mean this sincerely. I can't think of anything more that she possibly could have done in the last years. I've been doing this a long time, and she's the most energetic, efficient, best chairperson we've ever had for the moment. And I want to tell you something, I think you're crazy, as well, for doing this again -- (laughter) -- but thank you for doing it again.

You know, given -- when we started -- you remember, we started this undertaking when the campaign really got underway. We were actually out there campaigning in the late winter/early spring of last year. Florida looked like a distant hope. But we knew if we won Florida, we would be in great shape. And I can honestly say I don't think we would have taken the state of Florida without Debbie. She made a gigantic difference. (Applause.)

And, folks, it wasn't just Florida. She did nearly 900 events in 31 states, 170 cities. (Applause.) Every time I'd feel bad about the number of states and cities I've been in, literally -- literally -- Steve Ricchetti would sit there in the Vice President's plane and say, "But you could be Debbie Wasserman Schultz." (Laughter.) "And she's flying commercial." (Laughter.)

She attended hundreds of fundraisers, raised millions of dollars for the party, participated in more than 600 outreach events with constituents groups. I think you had me at half of those, but not really. I didn't do nearly as many. But it's just an amazing job, an amazing job. And the President and I are eternally grateful for her.

And don't forget, folks, she's got a day job -- (laughter) -- as one of the most effective Democratic members of Congress that we have. The way I wanted to just describe her -- basically in three sentences. One, she is the most courageous, gutsy person that I know. She's completely selfless. She's incredibly loyal. And from my perspective -- and I mean this sincerely, we go back a long way -- she is one of my closest, best friends in political life. And it's been an honor, an honor, to get to work with her and become a friend. (Applause.) I mean it. (Applause.)

Look, I can't tell you how pleased the President and I are for all of you continuing taking on this responsibility, and particularly Debbie. We're really lucky to have all of you. And I said the other night that I feel very fortunate to be Vice President. But I feel more fortunate to be Vice President to Barack Obama. (Applause.)

Everything that he has done -- because of all of you and because of the guy I work for, this country has come an awful long way in no small part because of the professionalism, the talent, the skill, the commitment of the people in this room and the professionals who do this full-time for us here. It's not an exaggeration to say I am absolutely confident we would have never been able to get off to the start we did -- never been able to get off the start we did -- but it not for the DNC. (Applause.)

You couldn't have been there yesterday on the Mall -- you couldn't have been there, my view, yesterday on the Mall, in front of a million people, and not remember what a different world we faced four years ago when we looked at 2 million people. The difference I saw was -- and I've said this many times over the last four years -- in the first inauguration, you looked out at the people's faces, and you could see -- you know, when you stand up there, you can see probably the first, maybe, I don't know, first 200 yards. You can still see people's faces. And up close you can see the expressions on people's face.

And the first time there was this sense of hope and expectation, almost longing; but there was also a look of apprehension and almost fear. People knew -- people knew -- how tough a shape we were in. Totally different look this time.

When we took office the first time, our nation had been engaged in two wars for almost a decade, neither of which had any end in sight. Al Qaeda was on the ascendancy. Bin Laden was at large. Our alliances -- and it's amazing, I used to -- my deceased wife used to have an expression. Neilia, she used to say, the greatest gift God gave mankind was the ability to forget. And my mom used to quickly add and say, yes, that's true. If it weren't true, women would only have one child. (Laughter.) But seriously, that's what she used to say. And it is a great gift to be able to forget, but sometimes we forget too quickly what tough shape we were in.

Our alliances around the world were frayed. We had gone from being one of the most respected nations in the world to being among the least respected of the major nations. Our economy, the foundation of our nation's security, was on the precipice of a new depression.

Literally before I lowered my right hand four years ago on January 20th, we had already lost 750,000 jobs that month -- that month before I lowered my hand. And we embarked, all of us, on a very improbable journey, certain of only one thing -- this is what I like serving with the guy I serve with -- certain of only one thing, a set of deeply held values that were totally consistent with what made us Democrats in the first place. And look at what we accomplished together. And that's not -- again, not hyperbole. I'm not being generous. Together, look at what we accomplished mainly through Barack's leadership. We ended the war in Iraq. We're about to end the war in Afghanistan. (Applause.) Osama bin Laden is dead and al Qaeda is on the run. And because of our leadership, we prevented a worldwide economic collapse. The world has been pulled back from the precipice, and now looking like it's getting ready to get up and move again.

The President passed historic health care reform we're now only going to begin to see the overwhelming benefits of. (Applause.) We saved one of the most iconic industries in America, the automobile industry. (Applause.) Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Elena Kagen. We ended "don't ask, don't tell". (Applause.) And the President made a full embrace of marriage equality which was a big thing. (Applause.) I know I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to that, but I -- (laughter). By the way, I knew where he was on that. And everybody said, well, wasn't he mad? Well, some of the people in the White House were mad. But I walked in that Monday, he's got a big grin on his face. He got up, threw his arms -- he said, you sure are irrepressible, man. (Laughter.) Then, he said, I'm proud of you, man. You say what you think. I said, I warned you. I told you two things. I'm not wearing any funny hats and I'm not changing my brand. (Laughter and applause.)

But guess what, you all knew it. It was in his heart. And that single statement of his has changed -- has changed the nation. Debbie, all of you in this room were there. You were part of the fight. You deserve the credit for the success that we had.

But when the President spoke yesterday, reasserting our basic, basic Democratic principles, which are totally consistent with basic American values, that's when everybody -- the look I saw on people's faces was different. It looked like, well, now we can get started. Now we can get up.

There used to be a civil rights leader in my era, when I was a kid in the Civil Rights Movement, who used to say, I'm tired of being tired. (Laughter.) The American people are tired of going slow. They're tired of being tied down. They're ready to get up, man. They're ready to move and we are too.

We are committed to reducing gun violence in America. We're going to get immigration reform. (Applause.) We're going to confront -- and beware of it, because we're coming. We're going to confront climate change. (Applause.) We're going to keep this economy growing. We're going to once again reinstate the middle class as the engine of economic progress, because all that talk this campaign was not talk. We, honest to God, believe that the engine, the way to grow this country is from the middle-out.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me end where I began. Debbie, thank you. And I really mean it. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your incredible energy you bring to this task. And let me say to you what I've committed to Debbie and I've committed to her before she took this job again, which was that I promise you -- I and the President, but I'll speak for myself here -- I will do any and everything I can that you ask me to do to help elect and strengthen the Democratic Party and elect more Democrats to office. (Applause.)

Because, folks, it's not just about winning back the Congress, which is our goal, and strengthening the Senate. It's about reestablishing and having the roots go a lot deeper in all those purple states, so they become blue and all those red states so they become purple. Because, folks, I know I'm always categorized -- I love it when I read in the paper Biden is the White House optimist -- (laughter) -- as if I'm the new kid. (Laughter.) It makes me feel young. (Laughter.)

But the truth of the matter is I am optimistic because I know the history of the journey of this country. Folks, from the time I got elected as a 29-year-old kid when I was characterized as a young idealist who just came to Washington, I have never been as optimistic about the prospects for this country as I am today. I really mean it. (Applause.)

And, by the way, it's not because of Barack and me. It's not because -- it's because America is better positioned than any nation in the world by a long shot, by a long shot to be the leading economy of the 21st century, to be the leading force for moral justice and change, for being the lead -- we really are. We are so better positioned relative to any other single nation in the world. They are not, as my uncle used to say, a patch on our jeans. We want to see them succeed, but nobody -- China, economically or any other country in any other sphere -- no one, no other country has the capacity to be such a positive force in the world. We are.

And if you listened to the President's speech -- this is the place to end -- we really genuinely are the most open, inclusive society in all the world. And I am also convinced the American people have moved to a different place. We went through a period of about 20 years where people flirted once again with let's just take care of ourselves, let's just make sure we take care of our own little patch. With the leadership of this President, he has been and will be as transformational as any President has been in history of taking us back to a place where we are a community, where we are -- it is about a more perfect union. I don't want to idealize this, but I'm telling you people are in a different place.

So, Debbie, you're always ready. (Laughter.) And you've always been ready for me and for everyone else here. But, folks, I think this is going to be an exciting journey the next four years, I really do. It's going to be tough, but it's going to be an exciting journey. And, Debbie, there's an old Irish proverb -- and everybody thinks I'm always quoting Irish poets and proverbs because I'm Irish. That's not the reason I do it. They're the best poets and the best proverbs. That's the reason. (Laughter and applause.) It's the only reason I do it. It's not because I'm Ambrose Finnegan's grandson. (Laughter.) It's because it's just the way it is. I'm sorry. (Laughter.)

But there's an old proverb that says, always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue, but never forget to remember those who stuck with you. Folks, I think I've probably -- I hope I've demonstrated with all my faults there's one thing I never forget. I never forget the friends who've helped. And all of you have given me the privilege of being in this position for another four years. And so, I promise you, I'll do anything I can to help. (Applause.)

Thank you all very, very much. (Applause.)

END 3:42 P.M. EST