The Long Arc of Joe Biden
Joe Biden’s last Democratic rival is all but vanquished. A deadly, invisible virus is sweeping the country. A global recession is looming and no one knows what may happen next, except this: Biden is poised to take on Donald Trump for the presidency he has coveted since the days of the Soviet Union, VHS tapes, The Simpsons’ debut, and the first Palestinian intifada.
Who ever thought the 77-year-old former vice president and senator would make it this far? The answers may lie in a backward glance to his very first run at the presidency.
During the summer of 1987, Joe Biden looked like the man to beat for the Democratic presidential nomination. He was set to lead the Senate’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Robert Bork, introducing himself to a nationwide television audience, and he had found his public voice in some stirring words borrowed from the British Labour Party leader.
“Why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university?” he asked at the Iowa State Fair, describing unnamed ancestors “who worked in the ” of Pennsylvania. “Is it because they didn’t work hard? ... because they didn’t work as hard ... It’s because they didn’t have a on which to stand.”
