History of Joe Biden

Summary

The 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

00:00

😀 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.

05:05

💔 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.

10:05

👔 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.

15:08

🏆 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.

20:10

💰 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.

25:12

👼 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.

30:13

😞 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.

35:15

✅ 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.

Keywords

💡ambition

Biden's lifelong ambition to become president is a core theme of the video. It traces this ambition back to when he told his first wife's mother he would be president one day. This drive propelled him through personal tragedies and political disappointments, until he finally achieved his dream at age 78.

💡tragedy

The video shows how Biden's political career has been shaped by immense personal tragedies, including the death of his first wife and baby daughter just after he was first elected to the Senate. He nearly gave up politics but persevered. Further tragedy struck when his son Beau died of cancer while Biden was Vice President.

💡respect

Biden is portrayed as constantly struggling to gain the respect he feels he deserves, making ambitious moves like running for Senate at age 29. His stuttering as a child made him feel disrespected. The video suggests much of his political career has been this quest for respect and validation.

💡compromise

The video praises Biden's ability to compromise and make deals with senators across the political spectrum. However, it also shows this was risky, tying him to controversial legislation and hurting him with Democratic voters.

💡empathy

Biden is shown connecting deeply with people who have experienced personal loss, seeing it as his mission. The video traces this quality back to the death of his wife and daughter in 1972.

💡foreign policy

As head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden became an expert in foreign policy. The video suggests this was his big strength in becoming Obama's VP and a trusted advisor.

💡crime bill

Biden is tied closely to the controversial 1994 crime bill passed under Clinton, recently blamed for mass incarceration. The video depicts him as tough on crime to compensate for Democrat weaknesses.

💡middle class

The video shows Biden constantly emphasizing his middle class roots and values as the core of his political identity, though his closeness to credit card companies like MBNA complicates this.

💡electability

A key reason Biden won the 2020 Democratic nomination was the belief among party elites and voters that he was the most electable candidate against Trump due to his appeal to working class whites.

💡Covid-19

The video depicts how the covid pandemic shaped the weird dynamics of Biden's contest with Trump. He campaigned mostly virtually, attacking Trump's handling of the crisis.

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