Obama’s right-hand man has some fire left
Committees before becoming the presidential stand-in for two terms.
It can be argued that Biden is uniquely qualified by his political resume — over 45 years in the Senate and then in the White House — to serve in the presidency.
He has acknowledged that he still wants to be president but says he has no regrets that he didn’t run in 2016.
He says he thinks he made the decision as best for his family as it grieved in 2015 for the death of his older son, Beau, of brain cancer.
One of Joe Biden’s major undertakings in his last years as vice president, and now, has been committing himself to research for an eventual cure. He and his wife, Jill, also head a family foundation devoted to advancing community colleges and ending domestic violence against women. He also leads a new center at the University of Pennsylvania focused on diplomacy and global engagement.
Through most of American history, vice presidents served with little significance and often were the brunt of lame jokes. One exception was Theodore Roosevelt, through the strength of his overwhelming energy and personality. .
In recent times, however, vice presidents have been given stronger roles by their presidents. Biden’s predecessor in the office, Dick Cheney, came to be considered the strongest vice president up to that time, but he was highly secretive and controversial, and sometimes was seen a rival for power to his president, George W. Bush.
Biden, on the other hand, was the most visibly engaged vice president of all, and Obama made a point of having at his side on most public occasions. At the funeral of Beau Biden at a Catholic cathedral in Wilmington, the president introduced himself as a member of the Biden family, and as his vice president’s “brother” in a rare close relationship.
It is thus understandable that Joe Biden would still have strong feelings for filling the shoes, and the obligations, of the president he served for two momentous terms, and with more engagement and responsibility than many, or even any, of his vice presidential predecessors.