In a public address after being chosen US president-elect, Joe Biden promised to unite the country and said that it was 'a time to heal in America'. Biden defeated incumbent President Donald Trump in the bitterly-fought presidential election that attracted a record number of Americans to cast their votes. Even the fairness of the election process was disputed, with Trump and Biden supporters all emerging on the streets in protests.
"I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but to unify; who doesn't see red states and blue states, only sees the United States," Biden said in his victory speech on Saturday night. Biden thanked his supporters, saying he had earned votes from the "broadest and most diverse coalition in American history." "I am humbled by the trust and confidence you've placed in me," the 77-year-old Democrat leader told the gathering amid applause and cheers from the audience. "The people of this nation have spoken they've delivered us a clear victory, a convincing victory, a victory for we the people," he said.
The Democrat leader also reached out to Trump voters, saying he would act as their president as much as he would for those who voted for him. "I understand your disappointment tonight. I've lost a couple times myself. But now, let's give each other a chance," Biden said. "This is the time to heal in America." "I sought this office to restore the soul of America, to rebuild the backbone of this nation, the middle class and to make America respected around the world again, and to unite us here at home," the president-elect said.
He assured Americans that his first task is to get the raging coronavirus pandemic under control with a definite plan that will be "built on bedrock science," as the deadly disease has killed over 237,000 people in the country. "That is the only way we can get back to living," Biden said in his victory speech, hours after he was declared the winner of the November 3 presidential election held amidst the pandemic.
He also announced that on Monday he will form a group of leading scientists and experts to bring the pandemic under control. "On Monday, I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisers to help take the Biden-Harris Covid plan and convert it into an action blueprint that will start on January 20, 2021," he said in his hometown of Delaware. "That plan will be built on bedrock science," Biden said, adding that he will "spare no effort" to turn the pandemic around.
