HOUSE, DON’T GO FAR.
I’M SURE WE’LL BE TALKING TO YOU
MUCH MORE.
MIKA?
>> WE’RE AWAITING THE RESULTS
FOR PENNSYLVANIA.
IT COULD TAKE AN HOUR.
HOURS STILL.
130,000 VOTES YET TO BE
REPORTED.
THE BIDEN CAMPAIGN IS VERY, VERY
CONFIDENT.
THOUGHT WE’D TAKE A MOMENT TO
GIVE SOME CONTEXT TO THIS
SITUATION AND TO BIDEN’S
APPROACH TO THIS ENTIRE
CAMPAIGN.
I WANT TO READ A PIECE THAT,
JOE, YOU WROTE BACK IN FEBRUARY.
BIDEN HAD JUST GOTTEN DESTROYED
IN THE STATE OF IOWA.
I REMEMBER A VERY AWKWARD TIME
WITH HIM ON THE SET IN NEW
HAMPSHIRE.
HE WAS SITTING THERE AND THERE
WAS NOTHING TO SAY BUT HE WAS SO
STEADY AND HE WAS SO OPTIMISTIC
AND THIS PIECE COVERS THE ARC OF
HIS LIFE AND WHY IT’S REALLY
IMPORTANT TO NEVER, EVER COUNT
HIM OUT.
>> AND ALSO, EVERYBODY AT THIS
POINT HAD SAID THAT IT WAS OVER
FOR --
>> FINISHED.
>> -- FOR JOE BIDEN.
HE WAS BEING MOCKED AND
RIDICULED.
AND PEOPLE WERE SAYING
REPEATEDLY HE COULDN’T FINISH
BETTER THAN FOURTH PLACE IN ANY
PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST.
AND THAT HE WAS EMBARRASSING
HIMSELF.
>> SO THIS IS WRITTEN IN
FEBRUARY.
NO MATTER HOW THIS RACE ENDS,
I’M PROUD OF JOE BIDEN.
JOE AND JILL BIDEN RETREATED TO
THE BIG BATHROOM UPSTAIRS IN
THEIR DELAWARE HOME TO SORT
THROUGH THE LOSS.
FOR A PROUD MAN, LONG DRIVEN BY
A BELIEF THAT GOD HAD A SPECIAL
PLAN FOR HIS LIFE, THE LATEST
HUMILIATION WAS SHATTERING.
SENSING HER HUSBAND’S PAIN, JILL
TOLD JOE, IT’S HARD TO SMILE.
I KNOW HE REPLIED, BUT BIDEN
CHARACTERISTICALLY DID HIS BEST
TO LOOK FORWARD WHILE SPEAKING
OF BETTER DAYS AHEAD.
RICHARD BEN CRAMER’S CLASSIC
WORK ON THE 1988 PRESIDENTIAL
CAMPAIGN, WHAT IT TAKES, THE WAY
TO THE WHITE HOUSE, MOVINGLY
DESCRIBED HOW JOE BIDEN’S
DEPARTURE FROM THAT CONTEST
WOULD BE FOLLOWED BY EVEN MORE
HARROWING EVENTS IN THE COMING
MONTHS.
IN FEBRUARY OF 1988, BIDEN WOULD
SUFFER A BRAIN ANEURYSM AND FIND
HIMSELF AT THE WALTER REED ARMY
MEDICAL CENTER WHERE HIS DOCTOR
TOLD THE SENATOR THAT HIS CHANCE
OF SURVIVAL WAS LESS THAN HALF.
EVEN IF BIDEN LIVED, THE DOCTOR
CONTINUED, A LONG LIST OF
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL LIMITATIONS
WERE LIKELY.
15 YEARS AFTER LOSING THEIR
MOTHER AND SISTER IN A
SHATTERING CAR ACCIDENT, BIDEN’S
SON BEAU AND HUNTER WERE CALLED
TO THEIR FATHER’S BEDSIDE AFTER
A PRIEST DELIVERED LAST RITES.
CRAMER WROTE, THAT THERE WAS NO
NEED FOR THE CRITICALLY ILL MAN
TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT WITH HIS
BOYS.
OR TO EVEN SAY THAT HE LOVED
THEM.
BIDEN HAD MADE THAT OBVIOUS HIS
ENTIRE LIFE, REFUSING TO LET
ANYONE STEP IN TO HELP RAISE
THEM AFTER HIS YOUNG WIFE DIED.
JOE DIDN’T WANT ANYONE ELSE
RAISING HIS KIDS, CRAMER WROTE.
HE WAS THERE EVERY NIGHT.
EVERY WEEKEND.
THEY HAD STORIES AT BEDTIME.
GAMES OF CATCH ON THE LAWN.
OUTINGS, TRIPS, PLACES TO GO.
THE BOYS NEVER SAW THE AIR OUT
OF JOE’S LUNGS, NOT ONCE.
HE WOULD NOT ALLOW THAT.
FROM HIS HOSPITAL BED, BIDEN LET
HIS BOYS KNOW THAT HE DIDN’T
NEED TO SEE THEM GROW INTO MEN
TO KNOW THAT HE WOULD BE PROUD
OF THEM.
HE WAS PROUD OF THEM ALREADY.
WHEN THE SURGEONS CUT INTO
BIDEN’S HEAD, THE ANEURYSM
EXPLODED OUTWARD AND WAS CLAMPED
IMMEDIATELY.
HAD IT GUSHED TOWARD HIS BRAIN,
BIDEN WOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD IN AN
INSTANT.
BUT HE SURVIVED AND CONTINUED
RAISING HIS CHILDREN WHILE
PASSING LANDMARK LEGISLATION IN
THE SENATE AND THEN LATER
SERVING AS BARACK OBAMA’S VICE
PRESIDENT.
MORE THAN 25 YEARS LATER, THAT
AWFUL GRACE OF GOD WOULD DEMAND
THAT BIDEN BURY HIS OLDEST SON.
FATE WOULD REQUIRE THAT IT BE
THE FATHER CARRYING THE SON’S
MEMORY WITH HIM THROUGH THE LONG
DAYS AND NIGHTS THAT FOLLOWED.
LAST MONTH, WHILE IN IOWA, BIDEN
QUIETLY WEPT AS HE TOLD ME ON
AIR HOW BEAU PUSHED HIM FORWARD
EVERY DAY ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL.
THAT MADE SENSE BECAUSE IT WAS
YOUNG BEAU AFTER ALL WHO PUSHED
BACK AGAINST HIS FATHER LEAVING
THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE BACK IN
1987.
A FEW MONTHS LATER, HE WOULD BE
IN THE FRONT SEAT OF HIS DAD’S
AMBULANCE DRIVING THROUGH A
FIERCE FEBRUARY SNOWSTORM.
IT WAS BEAU’S MEMORY THAT ALSO
HELPED MOVE JOE BIDEN TO ENTER
THE PRESIDENTIAL -- THE 2020
PRESIDENTIAL RACE.
FRIENDS AND LONGTIME AIDES
FEARED THE FORMER VICE PRESIDENT
WASN’T UP TO THE CHALLENGE OF
RUNNING YET AGAIN FOR PRESIDENT.
THAT THE PAIN AND HARDSHIP BIDEN
HAD ENDURED OVER HIS ADULT LIFE
LEFT HIM TOO WEARIED TO ABSORB
THE HITS THAT WOULD SURELY COME
HIS WAY.
BUT JILL BIDEN, WHOM JOE
CREDITED WITH HELPING HIM DREAM
AGAIN AFTER HIS FIRST WIFE’S
DEATH, SUPPORTED HIS DECISION
AND HELPED HIM PICK UP THE
PIECES OF HIS LIFE ONCE MORE.
THAT FAITH INITIALLY SEEMED TO
PAY OFF WITH BIDEN RACING TO THE
TOP OF MOST DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL
POLLS THROUGH 2019.
HIS LOSSES IN THE FIRST CONTESTS OF 2020 HELD AN OVERWHELM LEAGUE
OF 2020 HELD AN OVERWHELM LEAGUE
WHITE STATE, DISCOUNT INGING --
HIS PAIN CAN SURVIVE THE BODY
BLOWS DELIVERED BY IOWA AND NEW
HAMPSHIRE.
IT REMAINS TO BE SEEN BUT JOE
BIDEN HAS ENDURED MUCH WORSE.
LIKE THAT GRAVELY ILL FATHER
COMFORTING HIS SONS SO MANY
YEARS AGO, MILLIONS OF AMERICANS
DO NOT NEED TO SEE HOW THIS
POLITICAL RACE ENDS TO KNOW THAT
THEY ARE ALREADY PROUD OF JOE
BIDEN.
AND YOU CAN PUT ME AT THE TOP OF
THAT LIST.
>> YOU KNOW, WILLIE, IT’S HARD
TO REMEMBER NOW.
I WROTE THAT PIECE AND MANY
PEOPLE CALLED UP AND SAID, THANK
YOU FOR WRITING IT.
IT WAS PAINFUL.
THEY CONSIDERED --
>> IT’S HARD TO READ.
>> THEY CONSIDERED IT A
POLITICAL OBITUARY FOR JOE
BIDEN.
I SAID IT’S NOT A POLITICAL
OBITUARY.
THIS GUY IS NOT A QUITTER.
HE’S GOING TO KEEP PUSHING
THROUGH.
AND SOUTH CAROLINA STRAIGHT
AHEAD.
WELL, JIM CLYBURN WOULD SUPPORT
HIM.
THE RACE WOULD TURN.
AND THEN ONE WEEK’S TIME,
EVERYTHING CHANGED.
AND BIDEN REMAINED STRONG AND
CONFIDENT AND OPTIMISTIC THROUGH
IT ALL.
>> YEAH, I’M THINKING BACK.
MIKA TOUCHED ON IT A FEW MINUTES
AGO.
THAT DAY IN MANCHESTER.
FEBRUARY THE 11th.
THE DAY OF THE PRIMARY.
WE SAT IN THAT RESTAURANT WHERE
WE’VE BEEN SO MANY TIMES
TOGETHER DOING OUR SHOW THERE.
AND JOE BIDEN CAME IN AND IT DID
FEEL, FRANKLY, LIKE A POLITICAL
WAKE.
HE ENDED UP FINISHING IN FIFTH
PLACE THAT NIGHT.
HIS CAMPAIGN STAFF, HE, OF
COURSE, JUST DIDN’T -- WASN’T --
WERE NOT IN GOOD SPIRITS BECAUSE
OF WHERE THEY KNEW THAT WAS
HEADED.
IN FACT, HE LEFT TOWN BEFORE THE
VOTE EVEN CAME IN AND MOVED ON
TO THE NEXT.
BUT, YES, HE WAS RESCUED BY
AFRICAN-AMERICAN VOTERS IN THE
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.