"In our politics, in our lives, we too often see each other as opponents and not competitors," Biden said. "We see each other as enemies, not neighbors. And as tough as these times have been, if we look closer we see the strength and determination that has long defined America."
"There are those in the greatest need who are looking to us. They’ve elected us to help them. To really look at each other, not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as who we really are – as fellow Americans, fellow human beings worthy of being treated with dignity and respect," the president added.
President Joe Biden speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, in Washington. (The Associated Press)
Biden stated that "so much more unites us than divides us," and that his first two years in office showed that officials "can join hands and get things done."
It was just two weeks ago that Biden took a shot at Republicans during a speech at the National Action Network's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day breakfast.
President Joe Biden called Republicans 'fiscally demented' while speaking at the National Action Network's Martin Luther King, Jr., Day breakfast. (AP)
"These guys, they're fiscally demented. They don't quite get it," Biden said about Republicans who criticized Biden for signing large spending packages.
Biden has also called Republicans who support former President Donald Trump "a threat to this country," and compared their political ideology to "semi-fascism."
Later in his remarks, the president recalled how things were different when he first joined the Senate in the 1970s, at a time when political opponents could still be friends. He illustrated his point by saying how when segregationists like Sens. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., and James Eastland, D-Miss., were in office, he would see Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., "argue like hell" with Eastland on the Senate floor, then eat with him afterwards in the Senate dining room.
"I don’t know how we go back to doing that anymore, but we have to," Biden said.