Washington (AFP) - From smoke swirling over a Donald Trump mob storming the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, to a smiling Joe Biden meeting ordinary Americans, the symbolism of the president's re-election video Tuesday was loud and clear.
"When I ran for president four years ago, I said we're in a battle for the soul of America.And we still are," Biden pronounced in the voiceover.
"This is not a time to be complacent.That's why I'm running for re-election."
The three-minute video announcing his 2024 bid opens with grim scenes from the January 6 riot when Trump's MAGA movement climaxed in an orgy of violence, stoked by the Republican's campaign to persuade Americans that the 2020 election had been rigged.
Smoke churns around the Capitol as a bell tolls in the background.The footage then cuts to the Supreme Court and a protester demonstrating against the 2022 ruling overturning Roe v Wade and the nationwide right to abortion -- one of the top issues motivating Biden's Democratic voters.
This is the cue for Biden's first word of the video: "Freedom."
"Personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as Americans," he says against a montage of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at work.
"That's been the work of my first term -- to fight for our democracy," he says.
The message recalls Biden's 2020 campaign, when he defeated Trump in one of the most divisive, bitter elections in US history.
Biden argues that this fight against "MAGA extremists" is not over -- and the video hovers on an image of Trump embracing his most potent Republican rival for the 2024 nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
They're "lining up to take those bedrock freedoms," Biden warns, as the montage flicks through pictures of more abortion rights protesters, gay community supporters, and "all while making it more difficult for you to be able to vote."
Grin and a jog
After that grim opening, enter the sunshine -- a slow motion sequence of Biden and Harris walking down the Rose Garden Colonnade at the White House on a fine spring day, with blossoms in the magnolia tree.
From then on, the video message hops from one optimistic image of Biden and Harris after another.
He hugs a retiree, visits a factory, greets a veteran, chats with construction workers and African-American voters, and marches with civil rights leaders.
Interspersed with shots of Biden are glimpses of popular figures -- Ketanji Brown Jackson, whom he appointed to the Supreme Court as the first Black female justice, First Lady Jill Biden, and his former boss when he was vice president, Barack Obama.
"I know we're good and decent people," Biden says."We believe that everyone is equal, that everyone should be given a fair shot."
Nowhere does Biden explicitly mention his age.At 80, he is the oldest person ever in the presidency and polls show voters are concerned.
But in one fragment of the video, Biden gives his wordless reply: he jogs towards a crowd, a grin spread across his face.
"This is our moment," he says.
