Obama says he ‘could not be prouder’ of Biden, Harris after election win

Former US president Barack Obama says he “could not be prouder” to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

In a statement, Obama says Biden has “got what it takes to be President and already carries himself that way,” because he will enter the White House facing “a series of extraordinary challenges no incoming President ever has.”

Acknowledging that the election revealed the nation remains bitterly divided, Obama says, “I know he’ll do the job with the best interests of every American at heart, whether or not he had their vote.”

He adds: “I encourage every American to give him a chance and lend him your support.”

Biden served as Obama’s vice president for two terms.

Two other former Democratic presidents are also offering their congratulations to Biden and Harris.

Bill Clinton tweets that “America has spoken and democracy has won.” The 42nd president also predicted Biden and Harris would “serve all of us and bring us all together.”

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, says in a statement that he and his wife, Rosalynn, are “proud” of the Democrats’ “well-run campaign and seeing the positive change they bring to our nation.”

Neither Clinton nor Carter mentioned President Donald Trump in their congratulatory remarks.

Biden was a young Delaware senator when Carter served as president from 1977 to 1981. Biden had risen in the ranks to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman by Clinton’s presidency in the 1990s and led confirmation hearings for Clinton’s two Supreme Court nominees: Justice Stephen Breyer and the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

— AP