Joe Biden: We have no intention of downsizing the American Dream

At the last night of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden praised President Barack Obama's response to the financial crisis that occurred shortly before he took office.

"Day after day, night after night, I sat beside him, as he made one gutsy decision after another--to stop the slide and reverse it," he said. "I watched him stand up to intense pressure and stare down choices of enormous consequence. Most of all, I saw what drove him: His profound concern for the American people."

"He never wavers," Biden added. "He steps up. He asks the same thing over and over again: How is this going to work for ordinary families? Will it help them? And because of the decisions he’s made, and the strength the American people have demonstrated every day, America has turned the corner. After the worst job loss since the Great Depression, we’ve created 4.5 million private sector jobs in the past 29 months."

The vice president also made the case that having a businessman as president was not the best choice, noting that Mitt Romney had argued against bailing out GM and Chrysler.

"It’s not that he’s a bad guy," Biden said. "I’m sure he grew up loving cars as much as I did. I just don’t think he understood—I just don’t think he understood what saving the automobile industry meant-to all of America. I think he saw it the Bain way. Balance sheets. Write-offs. Folks, the Bain way may bring your firm the highest profit. But it’s not the way to lead your country from its highest office."

Throughout his speech, Biden framed Obama as a courageous and decisive leader who could "make tough calls." He pushed back against the idea that America was in decline.

"My fellow Americans, America is coming back and we’re not going back! And we have no intention of downsizing the American Dream."

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube, below: