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Joe Biden on Friday spoke out in public for the first time since being diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer earlier this month to say he was optimistic about his prognosis and also to urge Americans to defend US democracy.
“All the folks are very optimistic … The expectation is we are going to be able to beat this,” he said of the cancer, at an event in Delaware.
He gave a speech to commemorate members of the military killed in service, a few days after Memorial Day, and also made comments to mark the 10-year anniversary of the death of his son Beau, from brain cancer at the age of 46.
Biden has been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.
Speaking to reporters after his official remarks, the former US president said he was already undergoing treatment, which he said currently consisted of “one particular pill” a day.
“It’s not in any organs, my bones are strong,” he said. He also said he was under the care of a world-class surgeon who had himself beat prostate cancer three decades ago.
During his speech, delivered with vigor and passion, in talking of the military men and women lost in the line of duty, he drew a direct line between their sacrifice and what he said people need to do now.
“They are not asking us to risk our lives, they are asking us to stay true to what America stands for. They are not asking us to do their jobs, they are asking us do our jobs – to protect our nation, in our time, now, to defend democracy,” he said.
Biden, a Democrat, did not mention Donald Trump, or the Republican president’s self-referential Memorial Day address, or his thrust to expand presidential power in what critics say is a threat to US law and democracy, but the context of his speech was clear.
He added later to reporters that the US is at “an inflection point where the decisions we make in the next little bit are going to determine what things look like for the next 20 years”.
Biden also claimed he had no regrets, despite being pressured into dropping out of his re-election campaign then watching Trump win back the White House.
“No regrets,” he said, adding: “I’m very proud. I’ll put my record as president against any president at all.”
