--- title: Biden To Governors: Only You Can Save Us description: Vice President Joe Biden told the nation's governors that it is up to them to lead the nation out of political gridlock. canonical: https://time.com/2977392/biden-governors/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-11T19:39:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:06:25.255Z article:section: Politics og:title: Biden To Governors: Only You Can Save Us og:description: Vice President Joe Biden told the nation's governors that it is up to them to lead the nation out of political gridlock. og:url: https://time.com/2977392/biden-governors/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa3282a21ccfa4f9/69869b71cd804d3357ccbe55/biden_governors.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5184 og:image:height: 2916 og:image:alt: Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the National Governors Association convention on July 11, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Biden To Governors: Only You Can Save Us twitter:description: Vice President Joe Biden told the nation's governors that it is up to them to lead the nation out of political gridlock. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa3282a21ccfa4f9/69869b71cd804d3357ccbe55/biden_governors.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Biden To Governors: Only You Can Save Us > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke J Miller/Nashville](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller/Nashville Jul 11, 2014 7:39 PM UTC  Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the National Governors Association convention on July 11, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn. Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the National Governors Association convention on July 11, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn. Mark Humphrey—AP by [Zeke J Miller/Nashville](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller/Nashville Jul 11, 2014 7:39 PM UTC Vice President Joe Biden told the nation’s governors Friday that it is up to them to lead the nation out of political gridlock. With Congress and the White House at loggerheads on nearly every issue, and President Barack Obama embracing executive action, Biden said at the summer meeting of the National Governors Association, Democratic and Republican governors “are the best hope we have.” “The way things have gotten today—and I’m not singling out any party or group of people, just the politics, the culture—it’s become too personal,” Biden said, noting that he served in the Senate when segregationists served in Congress. “It was never personal. It was never cast in the context of ‘you’re good or bad,’” he added. “There was a presumption that the other guys or woman you’d be dealing with was acting in good faith. It was always about their judgment, not about their motive.” “You gotta lead us out of this mess we’re in,” he told the governors. Biden prefaced his remarks on partisanship with a warning. “Folks. I probably shouldn’t say this … but then again I’m Joe Biden,” he said drawing laughs from the audience of governors, lobbyists and staff. Biden also noted that demographic changes in the U.S. would leave “those of us who are caucasian or of european descent are going to be an absolute minority in the United States of America” in a few decades, adding “so we’ve got to get this right.” The vice president used his remarks to call for congressional action on infrastructure spending and workforce training programs, praising Democratic and Republican “guvs” by name for successful programs in their states. “You’re doing all you can,” Biden told the governors. “You’re attracting investment, while the federal government is sitting on its hands.” “We’re looking to you,” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2977392/biden-governors/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2977392/biden-governors/"},"headline":"Biden To Governors: Only You Can Save Us","datePublished":"2014-07-11T19:39:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:06:25.255Z","description":"Vice President Joe Biden told the nation's governors that it is up to them to lead the nation out of political gridlock.","url":"https://time.com/2977392/biden-governors/","keywords":["Joe Biden","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa3282a21ccfa4f9/69869b71cd804d3357ccbe55/biden_governors.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke J Miller/Nashville"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa3282a21ccfa4f9/69869b71cd804d3357ccbe55/biden_governors.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the National Governors Association convention on July 11, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn.","caption":"Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the National Governors Association convention on July 11, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn.","creditText":"Mark Humphrey—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2977392/biden-governors/","name":"Biden To Governors: Only You Can Save Us"}}]}] ```