I am so happy to see you.
And this book is fantastic.
It's getting great reviews.
It comes out tomorrow.
And it's heartbreaking, and it's inspiring at the same time.
It is called, Promise Me, Dad.
And explain to everyone-- it's just a piece of-- it's
not a memoir.
It's a certain time in your life.
I wanted people to know about what--
I'm going to sound like a typical dad.
But I wanted people to know what a remarkable son my son Beau
Biden was.
[APPLAUSE]
Oh, my dad used to have an expression.
He'd say, never complain and never explain.
I can honestly say his entire life,
never heard the kid once complain.
He was a decorated war veteran, came back from Iraq for a year,
spent time in Kosovo volunteering
to put up their system.
He was the attorney general of the state of Delaware.
And I wanted to write about what an incredible man he was
and what a relationship he had with his brother, a year
and a day younger, and his sister--
and how he really built this family of mine.
And then I also wanted to--
a lot of you been through some tough times.
And your parents have.
Some of you maybe you have lost a brother, sister, husband,
wife, son, daughter.
And I wanted to give people reason to hope.
And there is-- if you can find purpose in your life
and you can turn the loss of the person you
love into devoting your time to what they would be doing,
were they still alive.
So I hope people get a sense of purpose.
Well, they will, because it's a beautiful book.
It's getting great reviews like I said.
[APPLAUSE]
You wrote this is so much faster than--
Obama's still working on his book.
And he is he's not going as fast.
He's still working on his book, isn't he?
Well, he is.
But he's a great and gifted writer.
And he said, look, Joe--
I'd written another book before that for a while
was on the bestseller list, 20 some years ago.
And I had forgotten how much time
I had put in to write the book.
And so he said, pick a place to go and spend
the next just every day in a disciplined way.
So for the most of May, June, and July,
I spent between 8 and 15 hours a day writing the book.
And it turned out to be the way to do it,
because you know how the brain works.
You know, you're engaged in the willing suspension
of disbelief.
I was writing the book.
And I write about my boy.
And I'd say, well, this is what Beau said to me.
I'm sorry-- first interview I've have done on it.
I say to my son, well, Beau said this to me.
And he said, Dad, he couldn't have said that.
He couldn't speak for the last two months.
He had that tube down his throat, Dad.
And what you find yourself doing is putting the bad--
the really bad, bad memories out of your mind.
And you want to look at them.
I want to think of him as this beautiful kid
in the back of the book or this strong major in the United
States Army or the guy introducing me
at the national convention.
And so-- but it was a catharsis in the sense
that I wanted to be completely honest, but not maudlin.
None of this is intended to be--
you know, so many of you have gone
through things as bad or worse than me,
and maybe without the incredible help I had.
There's so many people--
Ellen, you know it better than I. have such empathy--
that get up every morning, put one foot in front of the other
when they're-- how in god's name do they do it?
But they do it.
And so it's meant to hopefully provide some hope.
And the Promise Me, Dad was--
Beau and Hunter are my best friends.
And my wife always says, Joe, you've got to get some friends.
[APPLAUSE]
No, for real-- for the last 25 years,
because I kept waiting for the day
that they'd go out to play golf or they'd go skiing
or they'd go to the movie and not invite me.
No, you think I'm joking.
I really mean it.
And it never happened.
It never happened.
That shows how cool you are that your sons still
wanted to hang out with you.
[APPLAUSE]
That's what that says.
So what he kept saying was--
he said, promise me.
He said, Dad, I'm going to be all right no matter what
happens.
But Dad, give me your word as a Biden-- promise me
you'll be all right.
Promise me, Dad.
And what he meant was that he was worried not that I would
give up on the family, but that I would withdraw and not
continue to fight for the things I'm passionate about.
And so that's the essence of the book Promise Me, Dad.
And I'm trying to keep his promise.
And you are keeping his promise.