I am wary of political coverage that focuses on the-pol-as-real-human-being in part because I dislike making myself open to the possibility that I've confused my affinity for a politician with my position on the issues she or he represents.
That said, it was a pleasure this week to read two different articles on Joe and Jill Biden. "Biden's Brief" (New Yorker, Oct 20, 08) is an easy read on how Joe Biden's trying to conceive the role of vice president as he would fill it. The passage in the article that I found striking:
Biden told me that Senator Mike Mansfield, of Montana—who persuaded him
to stay in the Senate in 1973, when he was distraught over the deaths
of his wife and child—taught him that, no matter how reprehensible
another senator’s views, his job was to figure out what was good in
that person, what voters back home saw in him. It may be a sentimental
view of how senators treated each other in an earlier age, but Biden
suggested to me that when he repeated that to Obama it helped to bring
them closer—and he said that he and Obama would bring that approach to
Washington.
Emphasis mine. And I think it's a handy way for all of us to look at elected officials.
And then there's last Thursday's piece in the WaPo, "Campaign Curriculum," which looks at Jill Biden. She's pretty awesome in her own right -- it is a not-so-secret dream of mine to teach community college, so I am already admiring of people who do so -- but this little anecdote just kills me:
"I had always kidded Joe and said the mail always comes
'Senator and Mrs. Biden,' " Jill says. When she earned her [doctorate], she
found that her husband had mounted signs in the driveway. One said,
"Dr. and Senator Biden live here.
You can't extrapolate an entire marriage from one incident. But I do think as far as anecdotes go, it's a pretty awesome one.
Anyway, I have a friend in Austin who's been a Biden fan from way back. And after this week, I can say to her that I totally understand why.
Recent Comments