【Text/Observer Net, Zhang Jingjuan】On July 2nd local time, former US President Biden delivered a speech in San Diego, California. This was his longest public speech since he disclosed his cancer diagnosis.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Biden said at a meeting of the human resources industry organization, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), that some of his key achievements during his presidency were "rapidly changing" under the Trump administration, and that European leaders had repeatedly sought his advice after he left the White House.
In a speech lasting over an hour, Biden did not directly name the current president, Trump, but warned that the United States' withdrawal from the world stage would bring risks and promoted his efforts to strengthen the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) during his presidency.
"We have greatly strengthened NATO. Now, I keep getting calls from European leaders, and I won't go into details, but they asked me to get involved," Biden said. "I didn't get directly involved, but I provided advice."
Biden, who is 82 years old, said he would continue to participate in political discussions, "because I really care about what I have done." He also said that both Democratic and Republican lawmakers had called him to exchange ideas.
"Many things I worked hard to achieve and thought I had brought change to this country are now rapidly changing," Biden said.
This meeting was one of the few public speaking occasions Biden has participated in since he stepped down in January this year. He emphasized that even in high-pressure work environments, taking care of family, dealing with illness, and coping with loss are essential, and that he had urged his colleagues to follow this principle.
On May 18th, the Biden office released a statement saying that Biden was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer, which had spread to the bones. He confirmed this on social media the next day and said, "Cancer is relevant to all of us, and those broken places make us the strongest."
According to data from the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for patients diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer is less than 40%.
At the end of Biden's speech, SHRM President Taylor (Johnny C. Taylor Jr.) took the stage to ask Biden how he hoped to be remembered.
Biden replied, "A good father."
Biden delivers a speech SHRM
The report states that Finland and Sweden joined NATO during Biden's tenure, largely driven by the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Afterward, the United States and other NATO members provided significant defense aid to Ukraine.
However, Trump's words and actions have raised doubts about the United States' willingness to defend NATO allies. He has repeatedly criticized the military spending levels of NATO member countries, although he left the NATO summit last month claiming that the alliance "no longer takes advantage of the United States."
White House Deputy Spokesperson Kelly (Anna Kelly) criticized former President Biden's foreign policy on Wednesday (2nd), saying it made "the United States weaker than ever before."
Kelly also boasted that it was because of Trump that NATO allies made historic commitments to spend 5% of their GDP on defense, Iran's nuclear capabilities were destroyed, and the United States' position on the world stage was restored.
Notably, several hours before Biden gave his speech, Trump's "Big and Beautiful" bill passed in the Senate by a narrow margin, but Biden did not mention this matter.
Data from market research company YouGov shows that currently, Trump's voters are more likely to believe that Trump should be held responsible for the current economic situation compared to Biden. Before last month, Trump's voters were more inclined to blame Biden.
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