Who is Joe Biden Really? The Man & The Politician

One of the most interesting side effects of my job here at Politiscope is how numb I’ve become to the way things really work. We all start our political journeys full of ideals and optimism, much like other areas of our lives we begin mostly unaware of how the coming obstacles will impact who we become in the long run. We think everything is possible without understanding the wide range of outside influences that will ultimately get in the way of this or that; and then what will we do in the face of such adversity? As we move along the track of life and go through our inevitable changes, we learn that everybody is only human and will therefore act accordingly. So after several years of being neck-deep in politics 24/7, I’ve come to understand that politicians are just people like you and me; and we must consequently learn to accept and treat them as such. So let’s talk about the man, Joe Biden, and how his life as just another ordinary man has impacted his career and therefore the rest of us.

“I’m not big on flak jackets & tie-dye shirts. Other people marched, I ran for office.” — Joe Biden 1987

This is perhaps the most defining quote of Joe Biden, by Joe Biden that I’ve ever come across. It perfectly sums up who he is and has always been. So who is that exactly?

“He’s always been an institutionalist. He was going to work within the system, which he did.” This was said about Joe Biden by a man named Mr. Sloan, a veteran activist who’s known Biden for decades. Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. began his life in 1942 in Scranton, Pennsylvania while WWII was raging overseas. He grew up in an average middle class home, his father moving the family to Wilmington, Delaware after receiving a new job as a car salesman. As I’m sure you’re all familiar with, Joe grew up with a stuttering problem that he had to learn to navigate around. Already a familiar story of understanding the plight of the working American, being bullied as a child and having to be strong in order to overcome it. Joe Biden was just an average guy who wanted more out of life yet wasn’t particularly exceptional in anything. Just a normal middle class bro trying to find his way like the rest of us.

Fast forward to his college days when he had an idea of what he’d like to do but wasn’t yet quite certain. Still pretty familiar right? A smooth good lookin, nicely dressed guy who always had a nice sports car to drive on the weekends because of his dad’s work as a car salesman. Good with the ladies, not particularly focused just yet, a young gentleman in his early 20s who was more focused on a career in politics than a movement in politics. More concerned about finding his place in the professional world than being on the frontlines as an activist for a clear-cut political cause. This, in fact, describes the vast majority of career politicians. People who are neither here nor there with ideological principles; more like ambitious careermen who come from modest backgrounds who believe that this is the field in which they can excel and make a mark.

Biden’s Intro Into Politics

Joe Biden met his first wife Neila Hunter in 1964, they married shortly after in 1966 and went on to have 3 children together: Hunter, Beau and Naomi. After graduating from Syracuse University Law School in 1968 he moved back to Wilmington Delaware to start his own practice and also became an active member of the Democratic Party around this time. Joe Biden won his first election to New Castle County Council in 1970 where he served until 1972. Up until 1972 there really wasn’t anything spectacular about Joe Biden; as discussed earlier he was just another average guy trying to find his footing in the world. But when he decided to run for Senate at the ripe and tender age of 29, that’s when everything changed in more ways than one.

In 1972 Joe Biden took the gamble to run for Senator at 29 years old against the two-term 63 year old J. Caleb Boggs. After winning the election by just 3,000 votes, Biden became the 5th youngest Senator in U.S. history. The excitement and joy had to be unreal! Just imagine what it had to have been like; a young 29 year old man married to the love of his life with 3 children and the rest of your lives ahead of you to build and enjoy. Unfortunately, Joe Biden’s life has been marked with several tragedies that most people will never have the misfortune of experiencing. And I believe that it is important for all of us, no matter our political affiliations, to recognize just how human Joe Biden really is. Just weeks after winning election as Senator of Delaware, Joe Biden’s family got into a collision with a tractor trailer on their way home from some Christmas shopping.

The Death of Biden’s Wife & Daughter

Not even a month after becoming the 5th youngest person ever elected to U.S. Senate, Joe Biden suffered the loss of his wife Neila and daughter Naomi. His sons Hunter and Beau were also injured but survived the accident.

“Once I had Neila with me, it became more of a plan than a daydream. Now I could see the picture whole.” This is what Joe Biden said of his first wife Neila, and it gives us a glimpse of just what he lost when he lost her. He lost his inspiration, his motivation and his partner in life. He lost the person who gave him a greater purpose than just himself, he lost the person who helped him to discover who he truly is and what he’s truly capable of. And he lost it at the exact same age that I am now, 29. While I’m not married and I have no children, I more than understand the value of a true partner in a life so hard and filled with never ending obstacles. Joe understandably went through a time of serious depression but he continued down the path of politics. The beginning of his long career was marked with perhaps the greatest tragedy a human being is capable of experiencing. Yet he carried on. This indeed is a huge part of who Joe Biden is that cannot be denied: resilient, persistent and strong. Now let’s talk about his deeds in the U.S. Senate.

Joe Biden the Senator

Joe Biden credits his second wife Jill as the renewal of his interest in politics and life. They met in 1975 on a blind date and married in 1977, going on to have a daughter Ashley in 1981. Before that, Biden described himself as a as liberal on civil rights and liberties, senior citizens’ concerns and healthcare but conservative on other issues, including abortion and military conscription. During his first decade in the Senate Biden focused on arms control and received considerable attention when he excoriated Secretary of State George Shultz at a Senate hearing for the Reagan administration’s support of South Africa despite its continued policy of apartheid. In the mid-1970s, Biden was one of the Senate’s strongest opponents of race-integration busing. He became ranking minority leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1981. In 1993, Biden voted for a provision that deemed homosexuality incompatible with military life, thereby banning gays from serving in the armed forces. One of the biggest stains on Joe Biden’s record his his writing and strong support of the 1994 Crime Bill whose legacy is little more than locking up black and brown and poor white people by the millions. Crime in America had tripled between 1960 and 1990, inflamed by a crack-cocaine epidemic in the 1980s. Working with police groups, Biden wrote the Senate version of the bill, which he used to proudly call the Biden Crime Bill. In 1996, he voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, thereby barring individuals in such marriages from equal protection under federal law and allowing states to do the same. We’ll talk more about Joe Biden’s career in the Senate in separate chunks below.

Ever since the Anita Hill testimony, Biden has worked to improve his record and image with women. In 1990, Biden introduced the Violence Against Women Act that promised federal penalties for crimes against women. The bill was not passed by Congress until 1994. Biden has called the law his “proudest legislative accomplishment.”

Senate Judiciary Committee — Anita Hill

Joe Biden was the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1987–1995 and was ranking minority member from 1981–1987 and again from 1995–1997. If you’re not familiar with what the Judiciary Committee does, in addition to its role in conducting oversight and consideration of nominations, the Senate Judiciary Committee also considers legislation, resolutions, messages, petitions, memorials and other matters, as provided for in the Standing Rules of the Senate. Joe Biden presided over the confirmation hearings of 5 justices but the most contentious and consequential were those of Robert Bork and current Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. In 1987, Biden presided over the confirmation hearings of Robert Bork, a US Appeals Court Judge and former US solicitor general, who was a known opponent of civil rights and was openly against Roe v. Wade. Bork also favored maximum powers for the executive branch, a very familiar far right wing viewpoint that basically declares presidents as kings. The Senate rejected Bork’s nomination by a vote of 58 to 42.

Now on to Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill

To this day Joe Biden is widely considered to be the only reason why the controversial justice Clarence Thomas resides on the Supreme Court. Clarence Thomas had been accused by numerous women for disturbing and creepy sexual harassment that was allegedly a regular part of working with him. During the Thomas hearings in 1991, Biden refused to conduct a full investigation into sexual harassment allegations against him. The committee called on Thomas’s accuser, Anita Hill, to testify, but Biden did not allow for additional testimony from other witnesses. Other women had the opportunity to come forward but were stopped from doing so; and ever since then Joe Biden has been remembered for his actions during the Thomas hearings.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee & War

Biden was a longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He became its ranking minority member in 1997 and chaired it from June 2001 to 2003 and 2007 to 2009. Biden voted against authorization for the Gulf War in 1991. Biden was a strong supporter of the War in Afghanistan, saying, “Whatever it takes, we should do it.” As head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he said in 2002 that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was a threat to national security and there was no other option than to “eliminate” that threat. In October 2002, he voted in favor of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq, approving the U.S. invasion of Iraq. As chair of the committee, he assembled a series of witnesses to testify in favor of the authorization. They gave testimony grossly misrepresenting the intent, history, and status of Saddam and his secular government, which was an avowed enemy of al-Qaida, and touted Iraq’s fictional possession of weapons of mass destruction. Biden eventually became a critic of the war and viewed his vote and role as a “mistake”, but did not push for withdrawal.

Joe Biden’s Unsuccessful Presidential Runs

Joe Biden’s first presidential run went down in flames. He launched his campaign in 1987 but quickly shut down shop after it was revealed that he used part of British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock’s speech within his own. He received bad media attention for plagiarism and decided that he’d give it a shot another time. It’s actually rather common for it to take multiple attempts to become president and not unlike many other people, Biden’s first shot was a swing and a miss. Now let’s talk about 2008, when instead of becoming President of the United States, he became Vice President of the United states in the Obama Administration.

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” — Joe Biden on Barack Obama

God Damnit Joe!

That also sums of who Joe Biden is: God Damnit man!

Joe Biden is widely known for his endless gaffes and verbal slip ups. And I don’t think I really need to say very much more about how Joe Biden’s 2008 presidential campaign went: not well at all!

This is of course when Barrack Obama became the first black president in U.S. history. So what made Obama pick Joe Biden anyway? Well, the simple answer is that Obama needed lots of white working class votes in order to secure the election against John McCain, and Joe Biden was just the man he needed! A 43 year Delaware Senator who had all the white working class support necessary to take Obama over the line of victory.

Joe Biden the Vice President

In 2009, Biden’s views gained more influence as Obama reconsidered his Afghanistan strategy. Biden visited Iraq every two months, becoming the administration’s point man in delivering messages to Iraqi leadership about expected progress there. More generally, overseeing Iraq policy became Biden’s responsibility: Obama was said to have said, “Joe, you do Iraq.” Biden oversaw infrastructure spending from the Obama stimulus package intended to help counteract the ongoing recession. Biden campaigned heavily for Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections. Biden’s May 2012 statement that he was “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriage gained considerable public attention in comparison to Obama’s position, which had been described as “evolving”. Gay rights advocates seized upon Biden’s statement, and within days, Obama announced that he too supported same-sex marriage, an action in part forced by Biden’s remarks. Biden’s Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized again in 2013. Biden favored arming Syria’s rebel fighters.

The Death of Beau Biden

Not only did Joe Biden suffer the loss of his first wife and daughter, but in 2015 his son Beau died of brain cancer. A wife and two children gone due to uncontrollable circumstances. Vice President Biden had been planning to run for president again in 2016, but the death of his son naturally put that to a pause. Once again, the nation bore witness to the internal strength Joe Biden has as a man. He carried on as best that anybody could.

President Joe Biden

Fast-forward to 2021 and we now have Joe Biden in the White House. After 3 attempts, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. finally got it done. But now that he finally has, what does that truly mean for both him and the rest of us? After decades in the Senate and as #2 of the nation, what has it all come to now? Joe Biden is no revolutionary, he is an institutionalist. Joe Biden is no activist and he never has been. What Joe Biden is, is a career politician; an average guy from Scranton who understands both gain and loss. A man who said himself that “nothing will fundamentally change” during his tenure as president. A man who has been handling the Covid Pandemic quite well, but also a man whose agenda will not be fulfilled. And much of that has to do with who Joe Biden is. He comes from the old school when the Dixiecrats ruled the Democratic Party, that’s where he got his start. He’s a wheeler and a dealer and he’s managed to have an extremely successful career. Joe Biden is a likeable man who many people consider to be their uncle while many others consider him to be the political devil. But after a somewhat thorough examination of the man, who is Joe Biden in your eyes?