History of Joe Biden
Summary
TLDRThe video traces Joe Biden's long political career from his election to the Senate in 1972 to his victory in the 2020 presidential election. It details his personal tragedies, including the death of his first wife and daughter, as well as his political ambitions and repeated failed runs for president. Despite setbacks, Biden perseveres, becoming Obama's vice president and a respected foreign policy expert. In 2020, he frames himself as the stable, experienced candidate who can defeat Trump. After South Carolina resurrects his campaign, Biden wins the nomination and presidency, capping his quest for respect and realizing a dream first expressed 50 years earlier.
Takeaways
- 😀 Biden overcame childhood struggles with a stutter to become a prominent politician
- 💡 He was first elected to the Senate in 1972 at age 29 and developed a reputation as a moderate Democrat able to work with Republicans
- 😢 Biden experienced immense personal tragedy early in his Senate career when his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident
- 🤝 As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he played a leading role in the controversial 1991 Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings
- 👔 Biden ran unsuccessfully for president in 1988 and 2008 before becoming vice president under Barack Obama from 2009-2017
- 😰 He nearly died from a brain aneurysm in 1988 shortly after dropping out of the presidential race
- 💙 Biden has valued his relationships with family above his political career, commuting daily by train to be with them
- 🇺🇸 Foreign policy has been a strength and passion throughout Biden's decades on Capitol Hill
- 🗳 After his son Beau's death from cancer in 2015, Biden decided not to run in 2016 but reemerged to defeat Donald Trump in 2020
- 🦅 At 78, he became the oldest president in American history after a life and career spanning over 50 years in national politics
Q & A
What was Biden's biggest political triumph early in his career?
-Winning the Senate race in Delaware in 1972 when he was only 29 years old, in an upset victory over popular incumbent Senator Caleb Boggs.
How did personal tragedy shape Biden's worldview and approach to politics?
-The car accident that killed his wife and daughter in 1972, shortly after his election to the Senate, as well as his son Beau's death from cancer in 2015, made Biden value family relationships deeply and see the power of forging personal connections in politics.
Why did Biden's first campaign for president in 1988 fail?
-He was found to have plagiarized parts of his campaign speeches, then revelations about an earlier plagiarism incident in law school and inaccuracies in his academic record sank his candidacy.
How did Biden rebuild his reputation after the failure of his 1988 campaign?
-By focusing on substantive legislative work and bipartisan cooperation on issues like crime laws and Supreme Court nominations in his role as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
What was Biden's role in the Obama administration?
-As Vice President, he managed oversight of stimulus spending after the 2008 financial crisis and influenced foreign policy decisions, using his decades of experience in the Senate.
Why didn't Biden run for president in 2016?
-He was grieving over the death of his son Beau from cancer and believed it was Hillary Clinton's turn to be the Democratic nominee.
How did Biden frame his campaign message in 2020?
-As a unifying figure who could provide stable leadership, in contrast to Trump's divisive rhetoric and governing chaos.
How did Biden win the 2020 Democratic nomination?
-A decisive victory in the South Carolina primary, followed by endorsements from former rivals and centrist Democrats consolidating around him as the alternative to Bernie Sanders.
What criticisms did Trump level against Biden during the 2020 general election campaign?
-Unfounded accusations about Biden's family members profiting from his political career and Biden suffering from cognitive decline.
What was notable about Biden's victory over Trump in 2020?
-At age 78, Biden became the oldest person ever elected President, capping a nearly 50-year quest that saw previous failed attempts.
Outlines
😀 Growing up with a stutter
This paragraph discusses Biden's childhood struggles with a stutter. He was mocked by his teacher and classmates, which caused embarrassment and fueled his determination. He overcame his stutter by practicing literature passages and getting ahead of questions.
💔 Dealing with unimaginable tragedy
This paragraph covers the immense tragedy Biden faced just after his first Senate election win, when his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash. Biden considered suicide, but persevered for his surviving sons. He commuted daily to Washington to balance his Senate duties and being there for his family.
👔 Building a reputation in the Senate
This section outlines Biden's early Senate career. He kept his head down, built relationships across the aisle, and gained clout via committee appointments. This set him up to play a major role crafting prominent legislation later on with Bill Clinton and others.
🏆 Achieving a career highlight with the 1994 Crime Bill
Partnering with Clinton, Biden took the lead on the high-profile 1994 Crime Bill to address rising violence and shift the soft-on-crime perception of Democrats. While it did not age well, at the time it marked the peak of his legislative influence.
💰 Cozy connections with MBNA pay off
Biden's long-time patronage by credit card giant MBNA is summarized. They provided favors to Biden over decades, he returned the support legislatively, and they hired his son Hunter out of law school - highlighting the transactional soft corruption prevalent in politics.
👼 Redemption through the vice presidency
After failed presidential runs in 1988 and 2008, this section covers how Biden ended up as Obama's VP pick in 2008. His experience, relationships and reliability led Obama to choose him for the ticket, kickstarting the public's enduring 'Uncle Joe' affection.
😞 Grief strikes again with the loss of Beau
This paragraph highlights the gutting loss of Biden's son Beau to brain cancer in 2015, shortly after Beau had launched a promising political career. Biden cared for him while carrying out his VP duties, and it fueled speculation on Biden running for president again.
✅ Third time's the charm in the 2020 election
After regretting not running in 2016, Biden announces his candidacy in 2020 days after Trump's election. His moderate appeal gains traction during the primaries after an initial stumble, and he defeats Trump with the most votes ever received by a presidential candidate.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡ambition
💡tragedy
💡respect
💡compromise
💡empathy
💡foreign policy
💡crime bill
💡middle class
💡electability
💡Covid-19
Highlights
Biden overcame a stutter as a child but was mocked by a teacher for it, which drove his desire to gain respect.
Biden was elected to the Senate in 1972 in a surprise victory at age 29, becoming one of the youngest senators in history.
Just weeks after his first Senate victory, Biden's wife and daughter were killed in a car accident, nearly causing him to resign.
Biden had two brain aneurysms in the late 1980s, nearly dying, which he credits for giving him a 'second chance at life'.
Biden played a leading role in high-profile Senate hearings, including the contentious 1991 Clarence Thomas confirmation.
Biden teamed up with Bill Clinton in the 1990s to pass major legislation like the 1994 Crime Bill, though it remains controversial.
Biden ran unsuccessfully for president in 1988 and 2008 before becoming vice president under Obama from 2009-2017.
As VP, Biden oversaw distribution of an $800 billion stimulus package and influenced foreign policy decisions on Iraq and Afghanistan.
Biden decided not to run in 2016 due to his son Beau's death from brain cancer, though he later regretted the decision.
After Trump's surprise 2016 win, Biden considered running against him as early as a week after the election.
Biden won a heated Democratic primary on the strength of his South Carolina victory and key endorsements.
Biden adjusted his campaign message over time, first promising a 'return to normalcy', then more sweeping reform.
Biden made history as the oldest president ever elected at age 78, after first telling his ambitions at 29.
Biden's career defined by family, tragedy like the deaths of his wife, daughter and son Beau, and constant fight for respect.
After 50+ years in politics, Biden fulfilled his long-held dream of becoming President on his third try.
Transcripts
you need to be able to answer the tough
questions I guarantee you Joe Biden was
in huge trouble it was the 2020
Democratic primaries and he was miles
behind we took a gut punch in Iowa the
whole process took a gut punch his
campaign was already counting how much
money it needed to pay out staffers when
he dropped out Biden had been here
before in
1987 there'll be other presidential
campaign 2007 2015 Joe Biden needed a
miracle and he got one in South Carolina
I know Joe we know
Joe but most importantly Joe Knows us
thanks to that endorsement from
Congressman James kurn Biden won the
South Carolina primary in a landslide 3
days after South Carolina he dominated
super Tuesday he went from being on the
verge of dropping out to being the
nominee in less than a week just 8
months after that fateful day Joe Biden
was elected president it was the
culmination of a journey that spanned
more than 50 years one that's included
unspeakable tragedy and bitter
disappointment so so who is Joe Biden
how did he go from being the youngest
Senator to the oldest president in this
video The Many Lives of Joe
[Music]
Biden Joseph robinet Biden Jr was born
to Jee and Joseph Senor on November 20th
1942 in Scranton Pennsylvania Joe's
childhood wasn't always easy but it was
happy but there was just one thing he
had but didn't want one day in Middle
School Joe was asked to read a story
aloud to the class instead of supporting
him his teacher mocked him she imitated
his stutter Joe could hide his
self-consciousness about lots of things
but not that kids at school called him
Dash because it sounded like he was
talking in Morse code instead of seeing
the young man they just saw someone to
make fun of it ate him up inside
eventually Joe beat his stutter by
reciting passages from literature and
learning to anticipate what people would
ask before they did it so he could get
in and ask them about it first great
practice for his future career Joe beat
his stutter but he'd never forget the
shame and embarrassment it caused him it
established a dominant theme in his life
a belief that he didn't get the respect
he
deserved After High School Biden went to
the University of Delaware he played
football worked as a lifeguard and then
in his junior year Joe met a girl her
name was nilia Hunter and within a year
they were married now that he had a wife
it was time for Joe to get serious he
went to law school but it was a disaster
he plagiarized a law review article for
a paper and in order to get out of
repeating the class Joe said he didn't
know how to do proper citations because
he wasn't in the class often enough to
learn in the end Joe scraped through he
graduated 76th in a class of 85 it was a
forgettable beginning to what looked
like it was going to be a forgettable
career Joe and nilia moved to the
suburbs they had a baby who was named
after his father but who everyone called
B then they had another boy Hunter and a
girl Naomi it looked like Joe's life was
laid out in front of him Decades of
boring middleclass life awaited but
behind the Bland exterior was a burning
ambition to be more than just a lawyer
the first time he met Nalia's mom he
told her that one day he'd be president
he woried the kennedies so in 1972 when
he was just 29 he took the first step
toward that goal and ran for US Senate
the odds were stacked against him the
incumbent Caleb bogs was a veteran and a
popular reformer Governor how could Joe
Biden who only ran because more serious
candidates thought that they had no
chance of winning even put up a fight
despite the long odds Biden had two
things working in in his favor the first
is that bogs didn't want to run again
Richard Nixon had personally come down
to Delaware to beg him bogs relented but
said he wouldn't campaign very hard he
didn't think he needed to Joe Biden's
second Advantage was his youth Biden
crisscross the state usually with nalia
and the kids by his side and his
campaign ran newspaper ads with slogans
about issues that resonated with the
public Caleb B's generation dreamed of
conquering polio Joe Biden's generation
dreams of conquering heroin the message
was clear bog was the past Biden was the
future but the future could be scary so
Biden searched for the center ground he
opposed marijuana legalization but said
police should focus more on heroin he
was against the Vietnam War but opposed
amnesty for draft Dodgers and most
controversially Biden also opposed
busing the practice of transporting
students to schools outside of their
local districts to make schools more
racially diverse not everyone lik the
strategy one local column said that in
November you can either vote for the
oldest young Democrat or the youngest
old Republican but it worked on Election
Day Richard Nixon won the state of
Delaware by 20 points and in a major
upset Joe Biden beat Caleb bogs by 3,000
votes the Young Unknown who had to wait
until after the election to turn old
enough to actually be allowed to serve
in the senate had won an unwinnable race
but then less than a month after Joe
Biden achieved his biggest Triumph he'd
suffer his biggest
tragedy
you knew you just felt it in your
bones something bad happened and I
knew I don't know how I knew but the
call said my wife was
dead my daughter was
dead and I wasn't sure how my sons were
going to make it for the first time in
my life I understood how someone could
consciously decide to commit suicide not
because they were deranged not because
they were nuts because they've been to
the top of the
mountain and they just knew in their
heart they'd never get there again there
will come a
day I promise you and you parents as
well when the thought of your son or
daughter or your husband or wife brings
a smile to your lips before it brings a
tear to your eye for years Biden would
talk about how the driver who killed his
first wife and baby daughter drank his
lunch on that fateful day but as much as
he wanted it to be true because maybe it
would allow him to make some kind of
sense out of what happened it wasn't it
was just a terrible tragedy Biden didn't
know how he could go on he wanted to
resign but he was worried about what
would happen to Bo and Hunter if they
saw their dad swallowed up by grief so
he agreed to stick it out for 6 months
and was sworn in as a US senator beside
Bose's hospital bed and when it was time
to go to Washington he did it his way
for the next 36 years until he became
vice president he commuted between
Washington and Delaware so he could be
home every night Biden valued his
relationships with his family above
everything else and he approached his
new job with the same mindset in a town
full of Ivy League graduates he wasn't
going to win on Raw brain power but he
could win by making friends remember
this is a guy who during his Senate
campaign was called the youngest old
Republican compromise wasn't a bad thing
it was the way to actually get things
done but this created a dilemma could
Joe Biden be the ultimate Washington
Insider while also being a total
outsider could he afford to skip the
fancy cocktail parties so he could tuck
his boys into bed at night he didn't
know but he knew he wanted to try
because for Biden relationships were an
anchor in deeply uncertain times Not
only was he processing a huge amount of
grief but he arrived in Washington
during a pivotal moment in the world
order will be out of Vietnam by the end
of June about 25 seconds left in the
round now you come to me to say I'm cor
give me Justice Supreme Court today
legalized abortions I know full well the
responsibilities that await me as I
enter the door of number 10 the
Watergate scandal broke wide open
today the 1970s was a decade of the
energy crisis stagflation labor Mutiny
Urban Decay and a cold war that looked
like it might get hot it seemed like
every night Americans watch stories
about riots strikes and serial killers
lines for gash stretch for Miles crisis
at home threatened the National Security
of the US and its allies against this
backdrop Joe Biden kept his head down
and worked hard on small things that
people cared about like consumer
protection crime and campaign Finance
reform he made friends on both sides of
the aisle segregationist Southern
Democrats liberals and pro bus
Republicans all found they could work
with him that determination to always
find common ground is the reason why
Less Than 3 years after he was elected
Joe Biden was appointed to the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee it was a big
step up in terms of prestige and
influence all of a sudden Joe Biden was
one of the leading voices in Washington
when it came to foreign policy his
actual beliefs were highly conventional
he thought the United States was the
world's greatest Force for good and that
communism was the biggest threat to
freedom but at the same time he thought
the US and Soviet Union should find
common ground on important issues like
Arms Control in an unstable era Biden's
predictability was a feature not a bug
but not all the change that was
happening was bad 2 and a half years
after his wife's death Joe's brother
brother set him up on a date with Jill
Jacobs a senior studying English at the
University of Delaware despite a 9-year
age Gap the two hit it off Jill was
fascinated by the young senator who was
nothing like the guys she was used to
dating after their first date she told
her mom that she'd finally met a
gentleman now that they were older Bo
and Hunter started asking their dad if
he was ever going to get married again
Jill didn't say yes the first time Joe
asked her but eventually Jill and Joe
got married in June of 1977 after a
short honeymoon it was back to work Joe
had an election to win it turned out
that winning was much easier the second
time this time around Biden won nearly
60% of the votes in every single County
with the confidence that only winning
reelection can bring Biden began playing
a leading role on the Foreign Relations
Committee he flew to Moscow to try and
save the salt to Arms Control treaty
which was on the verge of collapse as
the 1980s dawned Joe Biden was finally
getting the respect he thought he
deserved and the good news kept coming
in 1981 after Ronald Reagan was elected
President Biden was appointed to the
Senate Judiciary committee it was
another big promotion the Judiciary
Committee oversees the Department of
Justice and considers nominations for
the Supreme Court helped by his role on
the Judiciary Committee Biden's public
profile went to the next level he went
to some of the cocktail parties he
devoided in earlier years and became
active on the Democratic party speaking
circuit and after he became chair of the
Judiciary Committee an idea started
circulating inside Joe Biden's Mind by
now he'd been a senator for 15 years he
was respected by Democrats and
Republicans alike it was now time Biden
believed to Su the dream he told Nalia's
mom about it was time to run for
president in a crowded field Joe Biden
looked like one of the strongest
candidates for the presidential
nomination of a Democratic party that
was desperate to win back the White
House after eight years of Ronald Reagan
he seemed to tick all the boxes he was a
high-profile senator who knew how to
raise money Baby Boomers saw reasonable
moderate young professionals saw
Statesmen and Americans saw someone who
survived tragedy Biden announced his
candidacy in June of 1987 at the
Wilmington train station so it's your
help that I seek
first as
today I announc my candidacy for
president of the United States of
America in language that was
deliberately crafted to remind people of
John F Kennedy he said that it was time
to rekindle the fire of idealism in our
society the campaign announcement was as
good as it ever got Biden couldn't
decide on a single campaign message was
he the voice of a new generation like
JFK a foreign policy expert
environmentalist educator he was being
pulled in too many different directions
at once and it wouldn't take long for
him to crack under the pressure what law
school did you attend and where did you
place in that class and the other
question is I think I probably have a
much higher IQ than you do the death
blow for Biden's campaign came when he
gave a speech that was plagiarized from
the UK labor party leader my mistake
from there things quickly unraveled the
media and Biden's candidates for the
nomination found examples of him reusing
passages from speeches given by JFK and
Robert Kennedy I did not know that was a
Robert Kennedy quote they discovered his
plagiarism incident from law school
maybe if Biden had been leading the
polls it wouldn't have mattered so much
but he was already floundering and these
new controversies proved too much they
were taking a toll on his health his
reputation and his family barely 4
months after he joined the race he
pulled out Biden's failed presidential
campaign was deeply embarrassing it laid
bare all his weaknesses his arrogance
his insecurities but here's the twist
that disastrous campaign it probably
saved his life less than four months
after he withdrew from the race Biden
woke up on the floor of his hotel room
he'd been unconscious for 5 hours
couldn't move his legs those headaches
he'd fed with Tylenol on the campaign
Trail had turned into a brain aneurysm
Biden's prognosis was initially so Bleak
that a priest arrived to deliver the
last rights before Jill even made it to
the hospital it took months of surgeries
complications and even a second aneurysm
until Biden recovered it was the price
he paid for months of campaigning while
maintaining his Senate duties but
ironically had he been a better
presidential candidate in 1987 he
probably wouldn't be alive to be
president today when he returned to the
Senate Joe Biden told the first crowd he
saw that he'd been given a second chance
at life he planned to take
it after the embarrassment of his
presidential bid and his near-death
experience Biden needed to rebuild his
reputation it wouldn't take long for an
opportunity to come up in 1991 President
George HW Bush nominated Clarence Thomas
to replace THD Marshall the first
African-American Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas seasoned Now by more
experience on the bench fits my
description of the best man at the right
time the nomination process was
controversial right from the start
Thomas was a staunch conservative
especially on hot button issues like
abortion and women's groups and civil
rights organizations didn't want him on
the court and then everything blew up an
FBI report which detailed sexual
harassment allegations against Thomas by
Anita Hill a law professor who' worked
with him was leaked to the media
televised hearings were reopened and
right there in in the middle of it all
was the chair of the Judiciary Committee
Joe Biden you swear to tell the whole
truth and nothing but the truth to help
you got the drama captivated America the
accusations against Thomas were lurid
but the Republicans were going to do
whatever it took to get Thomas across
the line and in his attempt to run a
fair hearing people started saying that
Joe Biden was running a process which
was unfair to Anita Hill the hearings
made a huge impression on women around
the country Clarence Thomas ended up
being confirmed to the Senate 52 to 48
and Thomas remains on the US Supreme
Court to this day this entire proceeding
is ended years later when it was brought
up by his opponents in the 2020
primaries Biden said he regretted the
way he ran the confirmation hearing but
back then he didn't his ability to
compromise with almost everyone was the
thing that got him to where he was chair
of the Judiciary Committee Member of the
Foreign Relations Committee potential
presidential candidate he wasn't going
to risk throwing that away to appease
his critics besides he had bigger fish
to fry because less than 2 years after
nominating Clarence Thomas to the
Supreme Supreme Court George HW Bush was
gone and his replacement was a very
different kind of politician this
election is about change change in our
party change in our leadership change in
our nation Bill Clinton wasn't your
average Democrat he ran ads attacking
Bush for raising taxes he promised to
end welfare as we know it and he wasn't
afraid to call out social issues in
America's cities Joe Biden looked at
Bill Clinton a charismatic young
Democrat who many people compared to a
Republican and saw himself so the
seasoned political veteran and energetic
young president teamed up the other big
piece of legislation on Capitol Hill
tonight is the crime bill and the fear
it provokes are crippling our society
the crime bill before Congress gives you
a chance to do something about it a
chance to be tough and smart the most
significant Federal effort to deal with
violent crime in America that has ever
been undertaken the 1994 crime bill was
one of the most important pieces of
legislation of Bill Clinton's presidency
and one of the most controversial it was
the result of years of work by Biden and
other leading Democrats gladly endorsed
by Clinton to address Rising crime in
the early 1990s violent crime rates in
the United States were about twice as
high as today the TV news was Rife with
stories of gang violence home invasions
and crack cocaine Americans were scared
Democrats were concerned about crime and
Joe Biden was definitely concerned about
crime in 1989 he criticized George HW
Bush for not going far enough in the War
on Drugs quite frankly the president's
plan's not Tough Enough bold enough or
imaginative enough to meet the crisis at
hand but Republicans had been hammering
Democrats as soft on crime for decades
the crime bill was Bill Clinton and Joe
Biden's chance to turn the tables it
wasn't even that controversial I mean
Bernie Sanders voted for it but in
recent years it's been linked to mass
incarceration especially of racial
minorities it's kind of hard to say if
the crime Bill did what it was supposed
to do VI crime peaked in 1991 a couple
of years before it was even written but
politically it was a big failure this is
one of the most profound days in
American history we didn't do what the
people wanted us to do I'm must
certainly bear my share of
responsibility and I accept that
Republicans now are beginning to talk
openly about taking control of the house
and the Senate just two months after the
crime bill was signed into law the
Democrats suffered a massive defeat in
the midterm elections Republicans gained
control over both the House and Senate
for the first time in more than 40 years
for Joe Biden it was a reminder that
playing nice with Republicans was a
risky strategy and now as one of the
most senior Democrats in Washington he
had a big Target on his
back since he was first elected to the
senate in 1972 Joe Biden had seen off
challenges from Farmers businessmen and
prosecutors none of them got close to
the most famous man in Delaware but in
1996 Biden got a different kind of scare
two weeks before election day staffers
working for his opponent started asking
voters if they knew that Joe Biden had
recently sold his house for twice its
market value to the executive of a local
credit card company in response Biden
provided the local newspaper with
evidence that the house was sold for
market value on Election Day he won a
fifth Senate term with 60% of the vote
end of story right wrong because his
opponent was actually on to something
Biden did sell his house to a credit
card company executive on its own that
wouldn't be much but The Story Goes
deeper and it reveals tells a lot about
Joe Biden and where he came from the
executive who bought his house worked
for a company called MBNA and before
they were bought by Bank of America in
2006 MBNA was one of America's biggest
credit card companies they were based in
Wilmington Delaware the place the
Biden's moved when Joe was a boy that
was no coincidence because Delaware is
the best place in America to register a
business don't believe me 2/3 of the
Fortune 500 are Incorporated there
there's a building in Downtown
Wilmington which is the official legal
address for more than a quarter million
businesses Delaware is a great place to
register a business because you can do
it anonymously and because corporate
taxes are ultra low and companies like
MBNA wanted to keep it that way that's
why one of their Executives bought Joe
Biden's house an act which just happened
to help Joe out of a little Financial
Jam he was in it's why they donated over
$62,000 to Biden for the election
campaign and it's why just a few months
after the election MBNA hired Hunter
Biden who was fresh out of law school as
an executive why did a credit card
company do so many favors for Joe Biden
simple they expected something in return
companies like MBNA donate money in the
expectation that when they need it their
guy will come out and support them on a
crucial vote and maybe use their
influence to swing a few more votes and
after 25 years in the Senate there was
no one better at twisting arms than Joe
Biden I'm not saying anything illegal
happened here Biden's relationship with
MBNA was actually the perfect
illustration of how influence works both
in Washington and Delaware one of the
first times people outside of Delaware
heard of Biden was when as a young
Senator he appeared on a a political
Chat Show talking about campaign Finance
reform 25 years later that same man had
found someone to buy his home for a good
price and give his son a good job in the
process and MBNA got someone in their
corner all for less than one executive
salary in 2005 the financial services
industry including MBNA strongly
supported a piece of legislation that
made it harder for people to discharge
their debts Republicans introduced the
bill but it took Joe Biden who had
already pushed to reform bankruptcy law
in 2000 and 2001 to make it bipartisan
he voted for the final bill in the
Senate it wasn't a good look for middle
class Joe but if he thought it was a
weakness he didn't show it as George W
Bush's second term Drew to a close Biden
was thinking about running for president
again every week coffins with American
flags draped over them were being flown
back from Iraq and Afghanistan Joe Biden
knew the tragedy of losing a family
member of losing a child he believed he
could Forge a personal connection to
voters and he believed Americans would
reward him for his experience Joe Biden
thought America needed someone like Joe
Biden he'd learned from the the mistakes
he made in 1988 he wouldn't make them
again this time things would be
different except there was one guy Joe
Biden wasn't counting
on now even as we speak there are those
who are preparing to divide us the Spin
Masters the negative ad pedlers who
embrace the politics of anything
goes well I say to them tonight there is
not a liberal America and a conservative
America there is the United States
of America in a speech that lasted just
20 minutes delivered in the middle of a
2004 presidential campaign a young
Barack Obama changed American politics
and in the process he destroyed any hope
Joe Biden had of being elected president
four years later politically the two men
had a lot in common but their
backgrounds highlighted just how
different they were one was the
effortlessly cool college professor from
Chicago while the other was the striver
from Delaware who'd scraped and
struggled for more than 35 years in
Washington and picked up tons of baggage
along the way way Biden was actually in
the room the night Obama delivered his
famous keynote speech at the Democratic
National Convention he gave his own
speech two nights later but even this is
an unflattering comparison for Biden
Obama's speech has 6 million views on
YouTube while you can't even easily find
Biden's for all the hype Obama got from
his speech he wasn't actually the
FrontRunner for the 2008 Democratic
primaries neither was Joe Biden Hillary
Clinton was she was seen as both the
experienced Pair of Hands that the
country needed to steer its way out of
the mess in Iraq and the continuation of
Bill popular presidency but she had as
much baggage as Biden so he tried to get
the campaign on his terms Iraq emerged
as the centerpiece of Biden's campaign
he outlined an ambitious some said
unworkable plan to split the country
along religious lines it made sense Iraq
was a mess and foreign policy was Joe
Biden's thing but it never cut through
sure people were worried about the war
in Iraq but they were also worried about
a ton of other things Joe Biden
overrated the importance of foreign
policy and when he did talk about
domestic policy he sounded more like a
Senator than a president in Waiting
compare that to Obama whose story and
speaking style made people dream of a
better future after finishing a distant
fifth in the Iowa caucus Biden withdrew
from the race he was 65 years old he'd
run for president twice and failed twice
it looked like the dream he told Nalia's
mom about would never come true but just
because he wouldn't become president
didn't mean he wouldn't make it to the
White House after a bruising contest
with Hillary Clinton Barack Obama became
the Democratic nominee but a callow
nominee needed an experience running
mate to help him manage Congress and
foreign policy and convince skeptical
voters in Middle America that they could
vote for a guy named Barack one night
not long after the primaries when Biden
was on the train home to Wilmington
Obama called him and asked if he'd
consider being vetted for the job of
Vice President Biden said that although
it was an honor to be considered he had
to say no he was a creature of the
Senate besides there was a lot he could
accomplish as chair of the Foreign
Relations Committee Obama persisted
until eventually Joe agreed to think it
over there are two schools of thought
about the vice presidency one is that
it's a road to nowhere Benjamin Franklin
suggested that the VP be given the title
of his Superfluous Excellency the second
is that vice president makes you the
Natural Choice to be your party's next
candidate Biden's heart told him it was
the latter but his head told him it was
the former he wanted to be president but
the guy who was actually up for the job
had asked him to serve so when Obama
asked him again Biden said yes it's a
good thing he did not in Generations as
w Street absorbed the number of body
blows it took today the American
Financial system is rocked to its
foundation as top Wall Street
institutions topple under a mountain of
De the collapse of Leman Brothers in
September of 2008 triggered the global
financial crisis but it also helped
Barack Obama become president before the
collapse the polls between him and his
opponent John McCain were neck and neck
but that soon changed media coverage
became increasingly critical of McCain
Who as a republican was seen as
supporting the deregulation that was
widely blamed for through the crisis
Obama ended up winning easily and in the
process he made history if there is
anyone out
there who still doubts that America is a
place where all things are
possible who still wonders if the dream
of our Founders is alive in our
time who still questions the power of
our
democracy tonight is your answer for Joe
Biden November 4th 2008 was a
Bittersweet day becoming vice president
took years of effort and sacrifice but
ultimately he was a supporting character
in someone else's story for someone who
had constantly battled to win respect it
was hard to take still Biden knew he had
no time to reflect on what might have
been the country was in crisis and it
required all his experience hundreds of
thousands of people were losing their
jobs every month Biden was happy to help
out wherever he was needed he just had
one request to be the last guy in the
room whenever Obama made a major
decision just days into his president
presidency Obama gave Biden the job of
overseeing the distribution of the $800
billion stimulus Bill both men knew that
Republicans would jump on any chance to
attack democrats for wasteful spending
Biden stepped up big time he traveled
around the country to check on projects
in person and worked the phones with
Mayors and governors in the end only
about 1% of the stimulus was lost to
waste or fraud a result largely due to
Biden it wasn't just demestic policy
Obama trusted Biden on foreign policy so
much he almost deferred to him Biden
visited Iraq eight times in Obama's
first term and was an influential voice
in the internal debates about what to do
in Afghanistan his advice wasn't always
heated he opposed intervention in Libya
and warned Obama against the bin Laden
raid but he was always in the room Biden
thrived as vice president because it was
a job that showcased all of his
strengths as a politician without
exposing his weaknesses he got to make
deals and slap backs and didn't have to
do many press conferences plus it made
him popular even if it was hard to see
how the semi-ironic popularity he got
from being Diamond Joe could translate
into becoming president despite his
reservations being vice president was in
a lot of ways the job Joe Biden was born
to do but work never came before family
which is why what happened next was so
hard to
accept Bo Biden followed in his dad's
footsteps he went to the same high
school and the same law school and
eventually he went into politics just
like Joe Father and Son were unusually
close Joe would tell anyone who'd listen
that Bo had all of his best qualities
and none of his Worst by 2013 Bo was
Attorney General of Delaware and he just
announced he was going to run for
governor but not long after he started
getting really bad headaches after
Consulting a doctor Bo got a diagnosis
no one wanted to hear Bo had an
aggressive brain tumor no one took the
news harder than Joe what made it worse
was that he was too busy to care for his
boy the way he wanted the United States
was facing difficult foreign policy
challenges in Ukraine and the Middle
East given the huge amount of stress he
was under it seemed incredible that Joe
Biden was still thinking about running
for president but it only looked that
way if you didn't actually know him
because because Biden was still driven
by his ambition and his thirst for the
respect he felt he'd always deserved but
never gotten if there were no second
acts in American life then Joe Biden was
attempting something truly remarkable a
third the truth is he'd never stopped
dreaming of being president and never
stopped believing he could win in 1988
he was a bad candidate and in 2008 he
was a good candidate beaten by a once in
a generation candidate but in 2016 he
knew that his likely rival Hillary
Clinton was as flawed as he was however
Bo just kept on getting sicker and
sicker Joe realized he couldn't be
everywhere at once and that there was
actually only one place he wanted to be
Joe committed the walk to Bose's
hospital room to memory he did
everything for Bo the best care the best
doctors even experimental treatments but
it wasn't enough Bo Biden passed away on
the evening of May 30th 2015 he left
behind a wife two kids and a grieving
dad who now had to confront yet more
tragedy Joe's diary entry from that day
was just one line long my God my boy my
beautiful boy tragedy had come for Joe
Biden once again and now he needed to
decide what to do Bo had urged him to
run but other people in Joe's life
including Barack Obama didn't think it
was a great idea he was overwhelmed by
grief and despite his own burning
ambition he was a team player he didn't
want a drawn out nomination process that
would hurt the Democrats in 2016
eventually regretfully he announced he
wouldn't run for president in 2016 B is
our
inspiration
unfortunately I believe R of time the
time necessary to mount a winning
campaign for the nomination despite his
regret Biden and most of the country
thought that the nomination was in safe
hands with Hillary Clinton she'd emerged
from a tough contest against Bernie
Sanders she was smart and experienced
she was highly qualified she was up
against Donald Trump for crying out loud
for most observers the outcome seemed
fairly certain you probably remember
what happened
next you know it is uh it's just awfully
good that someone with the temperament
of Donald Trump is not in charge of the
law in our country because you'd be in
jail secretary
Clinton I had the weirdest weirdest
dream last night remember that guy who
used to host The
Apprentice I dreamed we elected him
president this was a white lash against
a changing country it was a white lash
against a black president Hillary
Clinton has called Donald Trump to
concede the
race January 20th
2017 will be remembered as the day the
people became the rulers of this nation
[Music]
[Applause]
again Hillary Clinton lost what many
people considered to be an unusable
election all of a sudden the progress
that had been made under the OB Obama
presidency the economic Recovery
Healthcare reform the fight against
counterterrorism was all at risk Joe
Biden felt the loss more than most he'
chosen not to run because of Bose's
death and because people he trusted told
him it was Hillary's turn and now the
most important job in the country maybe
the entire world belonged to someone he
thought was totally unqualified to do it
moments of Crisis often brought out the
best in Joe Biden he believed the
election of Donald Trump counted as a
crisis and it gave him an energy not
many people knew he still had he first
floated the idea of running again barely
a week after Trump was elected but Joe
Biden announced he was running in 2020
like only he could he accidentally
blurted it out during a speech I have
the most Progressive record of anybody
running for the UN if anybody who would
run he wouldn't formally announce he was
running until a month later but by then
everyone knew Biden's campaign team was
composed of his most trusted advisers
including his sister Valerie who helped
him get elected to the Senate way back
in 1972 almost immediately Biden was
declared the front runner for the
Democratic nomination but he knew he'd
been in this position before and failed
Biden was too arrogant in 1988 and
Powerless in the face of the Obama
phenomenon in 2008 so in 2020 he made a
more modest pitch Biden knew that lots
of Americans were angry they were angry
about politics about the economy about
the response to covid-19 so instead of
Fanning the Flames he pitched himself as
the boring candidate he would be the
anti-trump the safe hands at the wheel
who could steer the country away from
chaos and toward stability ironically
one of the first people to recognize the
appeal of this p was Donald Trump in a
weird way it was a compliment because it
showed Trump recognized the threat Biden
posed Biden was deeply offended by
Trump's presidency and its consequences
for the country and he was worried that
the rest of the people being touted as
Democratic nominees didn't have what it
took to win the primary debates gave
Biden's younger opponents the
opportunity to attack him for his record
all of Joe Biden's baggage was brought
up and debated in prime time it was a
reminder that in politics it's better to
not have a track record the first few
states were brutal for Biden Iowa New
Hampshire Nevada he was Miles off the
pace all of the old doubts about his
ability to connect with voters
resurfaced and then South Carolina
happened my buddy Jim clber you brought
me back after South Carolina the rest of
the democratic field melted away within
days lots of Bernie supporters thought
it was a conspiracy but the truth is
much simpler Biden won because the
relationships he'd spent decades
investing in paid off over the years
Biden had built relationships with most
of the candidates who stepped aside Amy
kachar the senator from Minnesota
remember the time he complimented a
speech she gave during her first year on
the job Democratic Party leaders and
voters decided Joe Biden was more likely
to achieve their ultimate goal beating
Donald Trump Biden accepted the
nomination in a Milwaukee Convention
Center that was almost entirely empty
because of covid-19 this is our moment
this is our mission despite making a
promise to donors early on in the
campaign that nothing would
fundamentally change by the time he won
the nomination Biden was singing a
different tune according to a senior Aid
to Bernie Sanders Biden told Bernie he
wanted to be the most Progressive
president since FDR Biden could see that
four years under President Trump had
made the country more polarized and many
Americans more desperate for radical
policies he was smart enough to know
that lots of Voters actually preferred
more ambitious plans put forward by
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren but
voters were also terrified those
candidates would lose to Trump they were
the right messages delivered by the
wrong messenger so Biden just like he'd
been doing for his entire career
calibrated his message for his audience
sometimes it was his fellow senators or
credit card companies this time it was
the American public the contest between
Biden and Trump didn't exactly showcase
the best the country had to offer each
candidate had lots of material to work
with about the other Trump claimed Biden
was suffering from dementia and alleged
that members of his family including his
son Hunter had personally profited from
Biden's time as Vice President Biden who
often campaigned either online or at
political rallies where people stayed in
their cars attacked Trump on his record
as president it was a weird hostile
campaign waged during a weird hostile
time in US history but at least the
election result would provide a
definitive answer right frankly we did
win this election we did win this we
want all voting to
St and the senior federal official says
the FBI is in possession of the hunter
Biden laptop in question we don't have a
final Declaration of Victory yet but the
numbers tell us it's clear we're going
to win this race Donald Trump the 45th
president of the United States will be
denied a second turn that has not
happened since 1992 contrary to one of
Joe Biden's fundamental beliefs about
politics 2020 showed that most Americans
didn't crave Unity they wanted their
guys to win when the dust settled he and
Cala Harris had received more votes than
any presidential candidate in history
more than 50 years after he told Nalia's
mom he wanted to be president he'd
finally done it if only Bo was there to
see him do it Joe Biden commuted between
Wilmington and Washington DC almost
every day for 36 years but his journey
from being the kid with a stutter to a
freshman senator sworn in from his son's
hospital bed to being the oldest ever US
president has been an epic one and it's
been defined by three things family
tragedy and a constant struggle for
respect and his response to all three
has been to fight he's fought for his
family he's fought to overcome tragedy
and he's fought for respect Joe Biden
isn't a remarkable guy he'd be the first
to tell you that but his story sure is
to learn more about his presidential
opponent Donald Trump watch this video
next thanks a lot
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