Joe Biden: from handmaiden of history to consoler-in-chief
There are low expectations for a Biden presidency. But defeating Trump and reducing him to a rare one-term presidency may lead Americans to be prepared to be surprised.
For some US presidents, their trajectory to the White House seems almost inevitable, unstoppable, predictable. They may have family connections. Or were a war hero. Maybe they impressed while serving in congress or as governor. They had political magic. The media wrote expectantly that they could one day hold the most powerful job in the world.
Joe Biden is different. Although he had dreamt of becoming president as a teenager and launched two failed campaigns for the White House, when he finally reached the apex of his ambition by defeating Donald Trump it came after many thought he had missed his shot and his star was fading.
Evan Osnos, a staff writer for The New Yorker, spent years observing Biden and talking to him. Those interviews have been blended with new interviews for an insightful and illuminating concise biography of the president-elect. The timing could not be better; it was published just weeks before the election.
In coming to the presidency at age 78, after almost 50 years in public life, Biden’s flaws and virtues are well understood by voters. But in 2020 Biden seemed to match the political moment and won 51.3 per cent of the vote to Trump’s 46.9 per cent — a larger vote share than Ronald Reagan in 1980 — and a clear electoral college majority.
“What you saw in the full scope of his record was a fundamental conception of decency as a matter of political importance, not something that is just quaint and nice if you can have it, but something he believes is essential to having a functioning government,” Osnos tells Inquirer. “Biden has come to this point in his life quite candid about his own highs and lows, and Americans responded to that honesty and humanity.”
Osnos writes about phases in Biden’s life: the overbearing and ambitious young senator more interested in the trappings of office than legislation, and culminating in a failed run for president in 1988; the emergence of a more mature approach to policymaking and a public warmth as a seasoned senator and vice-president; and then a more introspective and empathetic political veteran changed by the tragic death of his son Beau in 2015.
Biden has never been a change agent or present at the vanguard of history’s turning points. Grief has defined his life — the death of his wife and daughter in a car crash; almost dying from a brain aneurysm; Beau’s death from cancer; earlier in life overcoming a debilitating stutter and chronic bullying — yet it took a long time before he felt comfortable being America’s consoler-in-chief.
“He has come to terms with the fact that it is what history has thrust upon him,” Osnos explains. “He had reservations about embracing that too zealously. I think he was worried that it could seem opportunistic or somehow unserious. He’s come to realise that actually Americans want him to play something of a pastoral role.”
Barack Obama’s invitation to serve as vice-president changed Biden’s perceptions of himself, Osnos argues. Biden saw himself as “a kind of handmaiden of history” — helping elect America’s first black president — but it took some persuading from his family to join Obama’s ticket in 2008.
Osnos writes how Biden’s style and experience complemented Obama’s, and he played an important role in the White House.
“Obama needed the things that Biden has,” Osnos says. “He needed help with connections to congress, he needed help on foreign affairs and, to be honest, he also needed help in reaching white mid-westerners who might not be as comfortable with the idea of the first black president.”
Obama told Osnos that he did not expect to form such a close partnership with Biden but their strengths coalesced and they worked together effectively. Osnos sees Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris as vice-president — the first woman and of Indian and Jamaican heritage — as another way of nudging history in a new direction.
But it will be different from the Obama-Biden partnership.
“Biden doesn’t need Harris to do foreign affairs and he doesn’t need her to do relations with congress because he does both of those,” Osnos says. “But what he desperately needs is a connection to the up-and-coming generations of Americans who are more diverse and more progressive than he is, and he expects her to bring that perspective into the White House.”
There is a risk that a Republican-controlled Senate — which depends on Senate run-off elections in Georgia on January 5 — will frustrate Biden’s ability to pass legislation and confirm appointments, just as they did with Obama. Osnos writes how Biden forged genuine friendships with Republicans and was able to strike deals. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has brokered deals with Biden before.
This will be a test of Biden’s presidency. Busting legislative gridlock, however, will not be easy. “If any Democrat is going to be able to find a basis for co-operation with the Republicans, it’s Biden,” Osnos suggests. “It is part of how he sees himself and he really did have these relationships that were quite unusual among Democrats.”
One of the keys to Biden’s victory was his ability to unite Democrats. That harmony is unlikely to last. Osnos jokes that he expects criticism from the party’s left wing to begin “approximately 30 seconds after he is sworn-in as president”. He makes the valid point that Democrats can be “just as powerful” (read: obstructionist) as Republicans if they want to be. This will be another test for Biden.
As a young senator, Biden worked hard so that he could prove himself to others. But the truth is he is not as sharp as he once was. He now takes on a large workload in a high-pressure job. Osnos talked to Biden about the limitations that his age might have, and the president-elect is well aware of this. But he takes care of his health and exercises regularly.
Biden also has a few things that work in his favour.
“He knows the job, he is quite familiar with the stresses, with the mechanics and understands it is a marathon and not a sprint,” Osnos says. “Living above the store means he has more control over his life, workload and schedule than in other circumstances.”
There are low expectations for a Biden presidency. But defeating Trump and reducing him to a rare one-term presidency may lead Americans to be prepared to be surprised on the upside if Biden does well. In any event, he faces a country with grave problems, not least a pandemic and an economy in a slump, and politically divided.
“Biden was able to elevate the campaign with moral language and talk about his opponent as offending national values, and it worked,” Osnos says.
“He believed Americans were exhausted by the negativity and division. Now the challenge is that, even though he won the election very clearly, the country is still polarised.
“I am comforted by the fact that he will be surrounded by people who, like him, have a basic respect and knowledge of the affairs of government. And that is, in itself, such a radical departure from the outgoing President that it constitutes something that is worthy of optimism.”
Joe Biden: American Dreamer by Evan Osnos is published by Bloomsbury.
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