Washington.- Former U.S. Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton shared celebratory messages this Saturday for the North American country’s Independence Day, highlighting the achievements and sacrifices of the last 250 years.
The Democrat Biden (2021-2025) recalled how in July 1776 the founding fathers “made a promise that no nation had ever made,” that all people are created equal with “unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
“We are the only nation in history founded not on ethnicity, blood, or geography, but on an idea. That is what has always made us exceptional,” the Democrat wrote in a message on X alongside a photograph of himself with the former first lady, Jill Biden, watching fireworks from the White House.
Also on X, Obama warned that “the United States is a work in progress” and that it is up to each generation to “take up the unfinished work of the previous one and carry it further, protecting what is right, correcting what is wrong, and making this union a little more perfect.”
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“250 years later, that is more important than ever,” wrote the first African American president, who led the country between 2009 and 2017.
Bush (2001-2009) released a video where he answers several questions about the anniversary, a historical milestone that the country has celebrated despite the stifling heat wave hitting 70% of U.S. territory.
“I believe that the freedoms we value, the freedom of worship according to one’s own beliefs, the freedom of the press to hold the powerful accountable, the freedom to vote, and the freedom to make dreams a reality, are values that can unite us as we move toward the next 250 years,” the Republican asserted.
For his part, Clinton (1993-2001) shared an extensive statement in which he launched clear reproaches against the administration of the current president, Donald Trump. The Democrat criticized the orders to “deploy masked agents” who “take people from their homes” and to initiate an “unconstitutional war on a whim.”
“Our founding fathers were wise to entrust us with the mission of forming a more perfect union. They knew that the United States would never be perfect, but that it could always improve (…) We have achieved this by having the courage to acknowledge our flaws and mistakes, and the audacity to leave them behind in pursuit of a more promising future,” he indicated.
The four living former U.S. presidents appeared together on June 18 during the opening ceremony of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.
Trump, whose first term was between 2017 and 2021, is scheduled to deliver a speech around 10:00 pm Washington local time (2:00 GMT) even though the National Mall area in the capital has had to be evacuated due to severe storm alerts.
