Biden accepts Democratic nomination for U.S. president, lays out "build back better" vision in speech

Photo taken in Arlington, Virginia, the United States on Aug. 20, 2020 shows screens displaying images of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaking in a video feed of the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Joe Biden on Thursday formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, laying out his vision for building the nation back better in a speech that capped off the four-day virtual Democratic National Convention. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, laying out his vision for building the nation back better in a speech that capped off the four-day virtual Democratic National Convention.

Almost right at the beginning of his speech, Biden directly took aim at incumbent President Donald Trump without uttering his name, saying that "the current president has cloaked America in darkness for much too long. Too much anger. Too much fear. Too much division."

"If you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us not the worst. I will be an ally of the light not of the darkness," Biden said at the Chase Center in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, pledging that while he is a Democratic candidate, he will be "an American president," and that he will work as hard for those who didn't support him as he will for those who did.

The 77-year-old Democratic candidate, who is running for the White House for the third time, highlighted "four historic crises" now facing the United States: the coronavirus pandemic that has infected over 5.5 million people and claimed over 170,000 lives in the country, a national economy that is reeling from the worst recession since the Great Depression, sweeping protests across the nation for racial justice following the killing of black man George Floyd by police brutality, and the rapidly worsening climate change.

"Now history has delivered us to one of the most difficult moments America has ever faced. Four historic crises. All at the same time. A perfect storm," Biden said, stressing that the upcoming election "is more consequential" as "America is at an inflection point, a time of real peril, but of extraordinary possibilities."