Biden comes full circle while opening the book on a new American chapter
You can’t talk about Joe Biden without talking about divine providence because he is a man of faith.
I know.
In this space, we don’t usually talk about faith. But at a time when babies are being shot, elderly people are dying alone and healthy people can’t go to work, a little faith is what’s needed.
For instance, when Barack Obama picked Biden as his running mate in 2008, I was one of those who was shocked that he passed up a chance to double down on history by choosing Hillary Clinton, a consolation for her failed attempt to become the first woman president.
Biden wasn’t what many of us expected. After all, Wilmington, Delaware, isn’t a place a lot of working-class Black people have been, and Biden, a veteran in Washington politics, was a long way from the working-class neighborhoods that Obama needed to win over in order to make history.
But Biden’s life story — from the personal losses he has endured to the shortcomings he has overcome — is as compelling as any you will hear from people living on the West or South sides of Chicago.
It would have been great if America had been at the point where the party didn’t have to put a white man on the ticket with Obama to bring out white voters.
But we weren’t there.
And while Biden had been outed for insensitive racial remarks he made during the primary, saying Obama was the first “mainstream African American who is articulate and bright ... ,” running for the presidency, he was able to bring out enough white voters in battleground states to help Obama over the racial hump.
On the night when Obama won the presidency, it could have been that “great gettin’ up mornin.”
Biden used the moment Thursday night to thank former President Obama, calling him a great president.
When Biden tapped Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate, his life came full circle.
Indeed, Harris’ accusation in the primary that Biden had once helped segregationists could have been a knock-out punch.
But that awkward moment for Biden turned into Harris’ march into history. Harris is now in a position to run for president with some wind under her wings.
Biden has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth, and November will be here soon. I hope he doesn’t get in the way.
As my church sisters would say: “Look at God.”