The Biden Era

From the News Journal:

Sam Hoff, a political science professor at Delaware State University, said, “When you think of Joe, you think of someone whose own moral fiber and strength is on public display in times of trauma.”

Politically, Hoff said Biden’s long career in the U.S. Senate and the vice presidency has helped strengthen Democratic politics in Delaware to the point that Democrats dominate here.

“Would I say that Joe is singularly responsible for the strong Democratic emphasis we see? No, not singularly,” Hoff said. “But we’re in a strong Democratic trend in a state, and we have been since 1992. That coincides with a large part of Joe’s career.”

Yes, not singularly. Delaware became deep blue the second the national Republican Party embraced extreme social conservatism. I wasn’t sure if then Senator Biden’s career in the First State had anything to do with it, but the deep emotional outpouring for Joe Biden and his family this week since the death of their son, Beau Biden, has me reconsidering it.

Joe Biden’s “Onion” persona nationwide places him as not an objection of ridicule but affection in our national zeitgeist, but that persona is something we Delawareans have known for decades. Everyone I am sure has a Joe story if you have lived in this state long enough. For me, years ago, in the mid-2000’s, I was standing in line at Regal Cinemas at the Brandywine Town Center, back when movie theaters had lines, and as I was waiting I turned around and there was Joe and Jill Biden. And they both were as nice as if I were a long lost friend they hadn’t seen in a while.

It is a connection that Tom Carper does not have, and he has been in one state-wide office or another for almost as long as Joe Biden. So perhaps it is just a matter of personality, a genial easy going always smiling outgoing personality that very successful politicians like Joe Biden and Bill Clinton have that endear them to us personally. And to be sure, you can be a very successful politician and not have such a personality (witness Tom Carper and John Carney).

Governor Markell said today that the Biden family is Delaware’s family, and that is perhaps the best description. Not a royal family, but just an extension of our own.

And I suppose one of the underlying reasons some of us are sad is that Beau’s death feels like the end to all that. Soon the Vice President will be finishing up his two terms as Vice President in Washington and returning home, retired from public life. And now without Beau around to run for higher office, we are wondering if we have come to the end of the Biden era of Delaware politics.

And with that thought… I had another… maybe this isn’t the end. But I will save that political speculation for next week when we discuss the game of political musical chairs that is about to take place.