Okay this is it
46. JOSEPH BIDEN (Old man, look at my life)
Born: November 20, 1942, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Died: Not dead yet. Kamala will have to wait
Term: January 20, 2021-
Political Party: Democrat
Vice President: Kamala Harris
First Lady: Jill Jacobs Biden
Before the Presidency: Joseph R. Biden, Jr. was the oldest child of an Irish Catholic family in Scranton, Pennsylvania. A working class kid, he was known for his scrappy attitude. It wasn’t the easiest of childhoods for young Joe as he developed a stuttering problem. He suffered from bullying as a result but was determined to learn how to speak without stuttering despite the failures of his speech therapist. In the end, Joe triumphED over his affliction and it made him tougher and more compassionate at the same time.
By 1953, fortunes in the Biden family improved and Joe Sr. was now selling cars in Wilmington, Delaware. Still with a stuttering problem, Biden had to endure some heckling at his private Catholic high school, but he managed to overcome the problem once and for all as he excelled in football in particular.
With High School now behind him and his stuttering problem under control, Biden entered the University of Delaware in 1961. Even then, he had political ambitions and was set on studying law. He also found a part time job as a lifeguard at an all African American pool. As the only white there, he took note of the differences in lifestyles between whites, who took their status for granted, and the blacks, who still had to suffer the indignities of being considered second class citizens. This, no doubt, played a large part in Biden’s social liberalism.
Biden met his first wife in 1964. They married in 1966 and would have three children. Meanwhile, Biden studied law at Syracuse University where he graduated in 1968. He initially found work as a corporate lawyer in Wilmington but realized that the job wasn’t for him. So, he became a public defender, defending mostly African Americans on Wilmington’s East Side. This proved to be a springboard for his first election to the New Castle County Council in 1970.
In 1972, 29 year old Biden decided to take a run at two term incumbent Senator Caleb Boggs. Biden wasn’t given much of a chance against the popular Boggs, but he had the support of his family, and they ran a grassroots campaign. In the end, Biden won a very close election against a man he described as a real gentleman.
Biden didn’t have very long to celebrate, however, as tragedy struck just a month later. While Christmas shopping, Biden’s wife and daughter were killed when her car was plowed by a tractor trailer. Biden’s two sons survived the crash and now Biden would be going to Washington as a single father.
Despite the tragedy, Biden quickly made his mark as a United States Senator being quite vocal against Nixon during Watergate and at President Ford as well for pardoning Nixon. Biden also developed a reputation as a commuting Senator who would take the Amtrak home every night after work (Wilmington is about 100 miles from Washington). He was also known for his candor admitting that even as early as 1974, he had some Presidential aspirations.
In 1975, he met his second wife, Jill Jacobs. They married in 1977 and would have a daughter together.
Biden would ultimately become one of the most powerful players in the Senate during his 36 years heading both the Judiciary Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee. He wasn’t afraid of being critical of Reagan and Bush appointees to the Supreme Court, notably with William Rehnquist for Chief Justice, Robert Bork, and Clarence Thomas.
In 1988, Biden decided to make his run for President. Still only 45, Biden came off initially as rather Kennedyesque but his campaign never really took off and he had to prematurely withdraw after he was accused of plagiarizing British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock (A sympathetic Al Gore would later note that Kennedy’s famous line from his inaugural address was taken from a quote by Khalil Gibran).
The mini scandal proved to be a blessing in disguise as he was diagnosed with an aneurysm that could have killed him. That was taken care of, and Biden continued on with his career as a prominent and well respected Senator.
During the 1990s, Biden was an advocate for tough on crime legislation and wrote the Senate version of President Clinton’s crime bill which passed with bipartisan support. Though popular at the time, it has since proved to be rather unfair to minorities who suffered quite a bit of abuse by police over the years and Biden would later apologize for the bill.
He had some better legislative achievements over the years though as he introduced the Violence Against Women Act. He would call it his proudest legislative achievement. Biden also learned a lesson about going with the political wind as he opposed authorizing President Bush to wage war in Iraq in 1991. He did support the second Bush initially in his war against Hussein in 2002, as did most Democrats in the aftermath of 9/11. It was a vote he would later regret.
In the end, Biden’s positives very much outweighed his negatives, and he made a second run for the Democratic nomination in 2008. By now, Biden was well into his sixties and some of his youthful charisma was gone. He was also prone to gaffes that could even border on racism such as when he made a comment about Indian immigrants running Seven-Elevens.
Biden’s 2008 campaign never had a chance as he was up against heavyweights like Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. And yet, it all paid off when Obama secured the nomination and pegged Biden to be his running mate.
And Biden proved to be quite the fighter as he blasted the naïve Sarah Palin in the Vice Presidential debate. Even more to the point, he would prove to be the most effective Vice President since Walter Mondale, being essentially Obama’s most trusted advisor. Biden was instrumental in pushing through the Affordable Care Act and influenced Obama in his support of Gay Marriage later. His connections to the Senate were critical in getting a lot of Obama’s incentives passed, even if they were watered down a little at times (remember, this was a Congress that was very hostile to Obama).
In 2016, tragedy would hit Biden yet again as his oldest son, Beau, who he had hoped might run for President himself one day, died of brain cancer. As such, and with skepticism of a Hilary Clinton nomination, there was hope that Biden might make another run at the Presidency. But Biden ultimately (and with advice from Obama it turns out) decided not to make a run of it, possibly something both Biden and Obama may have regretted later.
So, Biden would stay on the sidelines as a respected elder statesman during the Trump administration.
Until he realized it wasn’t just a philosophy that was in deep peril but the idea of democracy itself.
Summary of offices held:
1971-1973: Member, New Castle County Council
1973-2009: US Senator, Delaware
2009-2017: Vice President of the United States
What was going on: Covid, mass shootings, Russian invasion of Ukraine
Scandals within the Presidency: No major ones so far
Why he is a good President: He was a calming influence after the tumultuous Trump administration. He sped up the covid vaccine distribution. He passed an infrastructure bill.
Why he is a bad President: Despite passing a bi-partisan infrastructure bill, he wasn’t able to do much else with a hostile Republican Senate. Plus, the economy took a hit during the Biden years.
What can save his Presidency: A cure for covid, a sudden turnaround of the economy, Ukraine winning the war against Russia.
What can destroy his Presidency: His propensity to make some unbelievable gaffes. The US spirals into a depression. Russia somehow wins. Europe (and the US) steers to the far right.
Election of 2020: Biden initially ran for the Democratic nomination in a field of over 20 candidates. He promised the nation of a return to normalcy after four years of divisiveness under Trump. He took a more moderate stance on issues like Health care, wanting to improve the ACA rather than going all out for single payer like the Progressive wing wanted. His candidacy took off after a win in the South Carolina primary, and, in the end, the Democrats, including the Progressives, united behind him, knowing what the alternative would have been.
In the general election, Biden, for the most part, kept his cool though there were a couple notable moments, such as when he told Trump to “shut up, man” during the debates. In the end, Biden won an election that was closer than it should have been, allowing Trump to use all his mischief in an attempt to overturn the election.
First term: Biden had to contend with the fallout of the January 6 insurrection as soon as he took office. He also had to deal with the covid crisis. He kept Dr. Anthony Fauci on, and they emphasized the need to vaccinate as much as possible (the vaccine had just come out). As of November 2022, the Covid pandemic remains but it has subsided somewhat. Meanwhile, Biden managed to pass an infrastructure bill through a barely Democratic Congress, partly, thanks to a procedure in which the Senate could pass a limited amount of spending bills without a super majority. Mass shootings remained a problem and, again, there is talk about strengthening gun control laws, but, knowing American history, not much can be expected from that. Because of Covid and world events, notably Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the economy is more or less tanking and it is affecting Biden’s ratings significantly. Right now, the consensus is, he will likely lose the House to a Republican party that could be teetering on the verge of fascism, and possibly the Senate as well where the dictatorial stylings of Mitch McConnell will again take over (though, compared to Kevin McCarthy, he looks like Winston Churchill).
Update: As of November 18, 2022, the Republicans do indeed seem to be on track of taking over the House but only by the skin of their teeth. In the Senate, meanwhile, the Democrats have appeared to be able to hang on to their slim majority and may even pick up a seat if enough people in Georgia can figure out that being a dumb football player doesn’t qualify you to be a Senator. Much of the mini upset (many had predicted a red wave) can be blamed squarely on the shoulders of Trump endorsed candidates like Herschel Walker and Mehmet Oz. It was also a statement, by some Americans at least, that isn’t always about the economy, stupid. Because if you lose your rights as a human being, the economy doesn’t really matter so much, does it?
Post Presidency: n/a
Odd notes: When Senator, Biden was known to commute to work from nearby Delaware by way of Amtrak.
First Lady Jill Biden teaches as an English Professor
Final Summary: So, with only close to two years under his belt and historically low ratings from the public, it’s safe to say it’s a little too early to give Biden a final grade. It’s likely a difficult two years which will be made even more difficult should he lose the House (likely at this writing) and especially if he loses the Senate (he may survive, the seats up for re-election favor the Dems from a numerical standpoint).
Meanwhile, as of November 18,2022, he remains an unpopular President and only has a slightly more hostile congress because of the Trump controlled GOP that people are finally beginning to reject.
Biden also has the problem with age. Though certainly well meaning, it is obvious he is not as sharp as he once was in the Senatorial days. And people (or at least I do) see Vice President Kamala Harris as a Hilary Clinton, Jr. Not a good combination to be sure.
But as I noted in the Trump bio, we do live in strange times. Maybe the Dems and Republicans will field younger candidates who actually care about our country. Meanwhile, we have to ride the horse of Biden for the next two years, so all we can do is to cross our fingers and hope for the best.
At least we know Biden will give it his best.
Overall rating: Incomplete. Is not halfway through his term yet
https://millercenter.org/president/biden