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Gratitude

Joe Biden has been on my radar for many decades. The start was back in 1991-2 during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. It was not a good start; I felt that Anita Hill was treated horribly by the Senate collectively and Biden chaired the Judiciary Committee at that time. (Side question:  what was there in Thomas's resume that made sense of his nomination? Long before I heard Anita Hill's name that question bothered me.)

Biden kept popping up on my radar, particularly when he chaired the Foreign Relations Committee. Over time I found that in interviews his opinions were the most nuanced. That was probably when I learned a bit about his personal tragedy, losing wife and child in a car accident.

He tried a few times for the Democratic party nomination for president; it didn't go well.  Long-term senators often lose the ability to speak concisely that is so important in campaigning nationwide. At some point he gave a speech that plagiarized another politician and his presidential hopes seemed to be dashed because of it. After all, whether you write the speech or not if you give it, you own it.

Still, he kept putting the time in at the Senate. He visited other countries, developed working relationships with world leaders, and still, was always able to give a good and meaningful opinion on foreign policy.

I can only project onto Obama why he chose Biden as his VP. It certainly seemed to help comfort all but the most rabid racists having a genial white guy on the ticket.

By all accounts Biden was a good VP and useful to Obama; contrast that with G.H.W. Bush's choice of Dan Quayle as a running mate. Biden had his own opinions but went out of his way not to cross Obama in public. Obama let Biden take the public lead in pushing for same-sex marriage, i.e., treating same-sex partners as human beings. I could go on forever about the problems in confounding the civil act of marriage with the religious act of marriage, but that would be for another post.

Biden lost his son Beau to brain cancer. Decades after the car crash but still so painful to see from a distance. I remember his interview with Colbert (who also lost most of his family when younger) and the nuance in it about grief, carrying on, celebrating the lost loved one through how you live your life. In any event Biden did not run for the presidency in 2016. Trump won (again, the rejection of Hilary Clinton is worthy of a separate post) and Biden faded into the shadows for a little bit.

Trump's first term really revealed who in this country cared about the Constitution and who didn't. Biden did care, spoke out, and successfully challenged Trump in 2020. His choice to do so still engenders a good deal of sniping, given his age.  There is an industry dedicated (then and now) to finding fault of Biden because of his age.

And now Trump is back, and his enablers have planned for this moment in time, shredding norms and laws day by day.  Rather than stand up against Trump folk take the path (that is easy because it means so little) of attacking Biden. Now we learn that he as aggressive prostate cancer.

I am grateful for Joe Biden and the life that he led. He is far from perfect but during his one term at the helm we addressed climate change, increasing freedom for folk of color and women, fairness for consumers, standing up to evil such as Russia's invasion of its neighbor, his accomplishments in addressing our infrastructure, the list is incredibly long. Each day that Trump destroys something good it is because Biden made it good, because Trump is a mean little child.

Biden and his family have my prayers in this difficult time.

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