The Joe Biden Way

Prologue: Lead with Empathy

Tell them what you really think, Joey. Let the chips fall where they may.

—Joe Biden's Grandfather Finnegan

Joe Biden landed in the White House with empathy on full display. The evening before his inauguration, President–Elect Joe Biden and Vice President–Elect Kamala Harris held a somber, thoughtful memorial to the 400,000 Americans killed by Covid-19. Biden acknowledged the unspeakably large sum of dead Americans. “To heal, we must remember. It's important to do that as a nation.” He promised America that, if he were elected, he would make conquering Covid-19 and its ill effects on the economy his top priority.

A month into his administration, President Biden and Vice President Harris held another memorial, this time for the 500,000 who had died from the virus. Once again, Biden led with empathy: “We have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow.” He asked Americans to avoid “viewing each life as a statistic, or a blur, or ‘on the news.'” With feeling, he said we must “honor the dead, but equally important, care for the living, those that are left behind.”

It felt like an odd but familiar moment and event. In celebrating and mourning the ungodly number of the Covid-dead, Joe Biden was playing a role played by other presidents in perilous moments: consoler-in-chief. He was better at the role than most presidents because few doubted Biden's authenticity. Even his greatest opponents liked and respected him.

The president-elect continued on that evening: ...