Joe Biden is a good man. Democrats should remember--as they gather for the circular firing squad with pundits obsessed with it--that Biden is the only one who has beaten Donald Trump. Not Clinton, not Harris, not Rubio, not numerous GOPers, not foreign leaders (yet), not golf opponents (although Trump cheats). Only Biden.
This was one of the nicest articles I read about President Biden today. I just love your account of the meet and greet. It was true Biden. He has such a big heart. I also got a glimpse of what type of writer you are. I now know why you are a very successful speech writer. I found your article very comforting.
Beautiful tribute to a true patriot and a regular hardworking American. Biden could have easily retired long ago. He didn’t need the job. But the country needed him and he (and Jill) heeded the call . Thank you.
Thank you, David, for this beautiful reminder of the Joe Biden I have loved and supported for decades. Lately, all anyone I hear and read wants to do is beat up on him and blame him for all the Democrats’ problems; I am so grateful that you have chosen to show that who Joe Biden is is so much more important than the mistakes he has made.
He definitely made a difference for me ! Fixed my Financial picture. Felt safe at night! Didn’t feel like the country was turning into a dictatorship! Peace of mind then
Tears in my eyes, David. Thank you. My daughter’s friend-a NY lawyer-went to Biden’s WH for a few days every week and was grateful to stay in my DC home for this. In his last year in office, without fanfare Biden had established committees, experts in many fields, to discuss ways to continue good work after he was gone. He is a good man.
Thank you for reminding us who Joe is. Why are we relitigating the past which can’t be changed and ignoring the obviously extremely mentally ill person currently in the White House ? The lesson from people perhaps overlooking Biden’s decline is : don’t do the same thing again now. The lesson is not to beat up on someone who gave his life to our country just to sell books or get clicks or whatever. We can’t change the past but we sure as hell can change the future. And once again, the GOP hypocrisy is astounding.
Biden is a study in how the perfect is the enemy of the good, when it comes to people as well as assembly line bakeries. And that just made a picture of the yin-yang symbol from Taoism pop into my mind--you know how there's a black dot in the white section and a white dot in the black. Kind of what makes the world go around. I think one thing people don't get about Biden is that some genuinely likable and sincere people just don't have it in them to be forceful orators. And now I'm remembering how the roshi of a zendo I used to practice in once confided that she never invited what she called 'charismatic' guest speakers. When I asked her why (thinking of myself and my frequent boredom during lectures) she said that charismatic speakers were often untrustworthy because of their desire for approval. She didn't get into other motivations such people might have, but that one stuck with me. Flashy does not necessarily equal valuable, likewise. I will remember Biden's efforts to make the world a better place, and his stutter, with something like gratitude, and I wish him well as he enters this next phase of his journey.
This is truly a beautiful and I also feel deserved assessment of Biden. He achieved so much, and I hope he will get credit for it. I feel the judgments about his choice to run again are often viewed from a Trumpian POV--he (Trump) would want to keep his power. I don't know why Biden made this choice--but I am willing to bet it was because he felt he could help the world. Of course I wish he hadn't but I believe his reasons were likely not self-serving. Now I wish him the best in his new challenge.
Thank you for this beautiful tribute. My son once spent time with VP Biden on a trip to the Middle East. I've never forgiven my son for not asking Biden to call me 😊
Dear Mr. Litt, thank you for your wonderful post. The Joe Biden you saw and wrote about is the real deal.
I'm grateful to have met and spoken briefly with Joe Biden several times: in a photo line at a DNC fundraiser in fall 2014; at a fundraiser for his presidential primary campaign in June 2019; and at a fundraiser for his presidential reelection-campaign in September 2023.
In 2014 a young father with a little girl -- a toddler who couldn't have been more than three years old -- were immediately ahead of me in the photo line. When it was his turn to meet Vice President Biden, he set the child down and as she toddled toward Biden the vice president immediately dropped to one knee and opened his arms wide.
In 2019, I joined a scrum of people around the former vice president who were eager to speak with him after he'd finished his remarks. This was on the Saturday immediately following the first Democratic primary debate -- the one in which Kamala Harris ambushed Biden ("that little girl was me"). By then I was breathing through a tracheostomy tube, which I had to cover with a finger to talk. Reaching Biden, I covered my "trach" tube with my left forefinger, extended my right hand to him and said, "Mr. Vice President, we've got your back." Seeing my tracheostomy, and without missing a beat, Joe Biden asked me: "Are you okay?"
In September 2023, I had the chance to speak to now President Biden on a rope line at yet another campaign fundraiser. It was a fleeting moment and I don't remember what I said. President Biden had likely had hundreds if not thousands of brief encounters of this sort in the 51 intervening months since I'd last seen him in June 2019. But he visibly brightened when he saw me put a finger over my trach tube so I could greet him again. And in that instant, I was sure that the president of the United States had remembered me after all that time. He'd seen me like he'd seen you.
Mr. Litt, the Joe Biden whom you met, and whom I met and observed at close range, is one of the most decent human beings to ever sit behind the Oval Office's Resolute desk. One of the saddest aspects of President Biden's time in the White House for me was the failure of too many of our fellow citizens to recognize and value his fundamental decency.
Beautiful story. The only people who don’t like Biden are people threatened by inclusion and vulnerability because he has both. He is strong enough, likes himself enough, to be able to be vulnerable with others. I would admire him for that reason alone.
Thank you so much for this, David. I really needed to read it after all the other Biden commentary swirling about today. I never had the privilege of meeting Joe Biden, but my nephew met him at a 2008 rally at Wake Forest University. There is a picture from that day of the two of them, both smiling and happy in the photo, and you can see Joe's kindness and humanity shining brightly. He was thrilled to be there, shaking hands and meeting young people where they were. I will keep that picture of him in my mind going forward, always.
What a beautiful tribute to a leader who more of us should aspire to be like. That you for sharing it.
Thank you - I'm glad you enjoyed reading it
Joe Biden is a good man. Democrats should remember--as they gather for the circular firing squad with pundits obsessed with it--that Biden is the only one who has beaten Donald Trump. Not Clinton, not Harris, not Rubio, not numerous GOPers, not foreign leaders (yet), not golf opponents (although Trump cheats). Only Biden.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
This was one of the nicest articles I read about President Biden today. I just love your account of the meet and greet. It was true Biden. He has such a big heart. I also got a glimpse of what type of writer you are. I now know why you are a very successful speech writer. I found your article very comforting.
Beautiful tribute to a true patriot and a regular hardworking American. Biden could have easily retired long ago. He didn’t need the job. But the country needed him and he (and Jill) heeded the call . Thank you.
Thank you, David, for this beautiful reminder of the Joe Biden I have loved and supported for decades. Lately, all anyone I hear and read wants to do is beat up on him and blame him for all the Democrats’ problems; I am so grateful that you have chosen to show that who Joe Biden is is so much more important than the mistakes he has made.
He definitely made a difference for me ! Fixed my Financial picture. Felt safe at night! Didn’t feel like the country was turning into a dictatorship! Peace of mind then
Tears in my eyes, David. Thank you. My daughter’s friend-a NY lawyer-went to Biden’s WH for a few days every week and was grateful to stay in my DC home for this. In his last year in office, without fanfare Biden had established committees, experts in many fields, to discuss ways to continue good work after he was gone. He is a good man.
Thank you for reminding us who Joe is. Why are we relitigating the past which can’t be changed and ignoring the obviously extremely mentally ill person currently in the White House ? The lesson from people perhaps overlooking Biden’s decline is : don’t do the same thing again now. The lesson is not to beat up on someone who gave his life to our country just to sell books or get clicks or whatever. We can’t change the past but we sure as hell can change the future. And once again, the GOP hypocrisy is astounding.
Biden is a study in how the perfect is the enemy of the good, when it comes to people as well as assembly line bakeries. And that just made a picture of the yin-yang symbol from Taoism pop into my mind--you know how there's a black dot in the white section and a white dot in the black. Kind of what makes the world go around. I think one thing people don't get about Biden is that some genuinely likable and sincere people just don't have it in them to be forceful orators. And now I'm remembering how the roshi of a zendo I used to practice in once confided that she never invited what she called 'charismatic' guest speakers. When I asked her why (thinking of myself and my frequent boredom during lectures) she said that charismatic speakers were often untrustworthy because of their desire for approval. She didn't get into other motivations such people might have, but that one stuck with me. Flashy does not necessarily equal valuable, likewise. I will remember Biden's efforts to make the world a better place, and his stutter, with something like gratitude, and I wish him well as he enters this next phase of his journey.
This is truly a beautiful and I also feel deserved assessment of Biden. He achieved so much, and I hope he will get credit for it. I feel the judgments about his choice to run again are often viewed from a Trumpian POV--he (Trump) would want to keep his power. I don't know why Biden made this choice--but I am willing to bet it was because he felt he could help the world. Of course I wish he hadn't but I believe his reasons were likely not self-serving. Now I wish him the best in his new challenge.
Thank you for this beautiful tribute. My son once spent time with VP Biden on a trip to the Middle East. I've never forgiven my son for not asking Biden to call me 😊
Ha - he probably would have, too
Dear Mr. Litt, thank you for your wonderful post. The Joe Biden you saw and wrote about is the real deal.
I'm grateful to have met and spoken briefly with Joe Biden several times: in a photo line at a DNC fundraiser in fall 2014; at a fundraiser for his presidential primary campaign in June 2019; and at a fundraiser for his presidential reelection-campaign in September 2023.
In 2014 a young father with a little girl -- a toddler who couldn't have been more than three years old -- were immediately ahead of me in the photo line. When it was his turn to meet Vice President Biden, he set the child down and as she toddled toward Biden the vice president immediately dropped to one knee and opened his arms wide.
In 2019, I joined a scrum of people around the former vice president who were eager to speak with him after he'd finished his remarks. This was on the Saturday immediately following the first Democratic primary debate -- the one in which Kamala Harris ambushed Biden ("that little girl was me"). By then I was breathing through a tracheostomy tube, which I had to cover with a finger to talk. Reaching Biden, I covered my "trach" tube with my left forefinger, extended my right hand to him and said, "Mr. Vice President, we've got your back." Seeing my tracheostomy, and without missing a beat, Joe Biden asked me: "Are you okay?"
In September 2023, I had the chance to speak to now President Biden on a rope line at yet another campaign fundraiser. It was a fleeting moment and I don't remember what I said. President Biden had likely had hundreds if not thousands of brief encounters of this sort in the 51 intervening months since I'd last seen him in June 2019. But he visibly brightened when he saw me put a finger over my trach tube so I could greet him again. And in that instant, I was sure that the president of the United States had remembered me after all that time. He'd seen me like he'd seen you.
Mr. Litt, the Joe Biden whom you met, and whom I met and observed at close range, is one of the most decent human beings to ever sit behind the Oval Office's Resolute desk. One of the saddest aspects of President Biden's time in the White House for me was the failure of too many of our fellow citizens to recognize and value his fundamental decency.
Beautiful story. The only people who don’t like Biden are people threatened by inclusion and vulnerability because he has both. He is strong enough, likes himself enough, to be able to be vulnerable with others. I would admire him for that reason alone.
Thank you so much for this, David. I really needed to read it after all the other Biden commentary swirling about today. I never had the privilege of meeting Joe Biden, but my nephew met him at a 2008 rally at Wake Forest University. There is a picture from that day of the two of them, both smiling and happy in the photo, and you can see Joe's kindness and humanity shining brightly. He was thrilled to be there, shaking hands and meeting young people where they were. I will keep that picture of him in my mind going forward, always.
David - thx for this. Much needed on yet another day of Biden bashing.
Amen Brother!! So well spoken!! Thank you!!😊