America’s Hope – Joe Biden

Written By Milee Jain (Grade 8)

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee for the 2020 election is running against the incumbent Donald Trump. Biden was elected as the former vice president from 2009 to 2017 and he also represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2009. Biden is part of the democratic party which is the world’s oldest active political party which believes in high social and community responsibility. 

So, what do we know about him? 

Biden briefly worked as an attorney before shifting his focus to politics. A brash, garrulous county councilman, he was the fifth-youngest U.S. senator in history as well as the longest-serving senator in Delaware. He has deep experience in foreign policy and criminal justice issues. Although his 2008 presidential campaign never gained momentum, Democratic nominee Barack Obama selected him as his running mate, and Biden went on to serve two terms as the 47th vice president of the United States. 

In 2017, at the close of his administration, Obama presented Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and called Biden “the best vice president America has ever had” and a “lion of American history,” and told him he was being honoured for ‘‘faith in your fellow Americans, for your love of country and a lifetime of service that will endure through the generations.’’ Two years later Biden launched his campaign for U.S. president in 2020. 

Biden’s personal life has been riddled with tragedies. His wife, Neilia, and his infant daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car accident. In 1988, Biden had to have brain surgery after being diagnosed with two life-threatening cranial aneurysms. Before surgery, the surgeon told him that he had a 35 to 50 percent chance of living a normal life afterwards. Battling through innumerable personal crisis and loss, Biden still has emerged hopeful, honest and courageous. 

America’s youngest senator then is now its oldest ever presumptive nominee as a presidential candidate. His age, at times, has been painfully evident on the campaign trail: his speech is less bounded, his theories ramble without necessarily reaching their point. His primary campaign was, for the most part, mediocre. Yet as things stand, he has a good chance of winning November’s election. If so, he may, more through circumstance than design, bring real change to a country long stagnant and polarised. 

Joe Biden is a force to be reckoned with. Americas hope in face of despair and ordeal. 

Featured Image Courtesy – Business Insider