NBC News
A White House official said Thursday’s address at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia would focus on “the continued battle for the soul of the nation” and show how the president sees the central argument of his 2020 candidacy remains as salient as ever with the midterm elections coming into clearer focus.
The president will lay out how America’s standing in the world and its democracy are at stake, the official said. Biden will highlight what he sees as progress over the past two years to protect our democracy, but note that rights and freedoms remain at risk.
“He will make clear who is fighting for those rights, fighting for those freedoms, and fighting for our democracy,” the official said.
Biden will deliver the speech outside Independence Hall, another echo of his 2020 candidacy which began with a rally in Philadelphia. In that campaign, Biden repeatedly drew upon the message of not just the nation’s Founding Fathers but other great leaders in highlighting how he viewed then-President Donald Trump as someone who would risk changing the character of the nation if given another term in office. He later drew on Abraham Lincoln with a major speech at Gettysburg, Pa., and Franklin Roosevelt in Warm Springs, Ga., in the closing weeks of the 2020 campaign.
