- Joe Biden will begin leading the US on Wednesday amid a pandemic, an opioid crisis and massive political instability.
- The president-elect presents himself as a conventional leader with a moderate stance towards politics.
- However, profound sadness, empathy, adversity and controversy influenced his leadership.
- Visit the Insider home page for more stories.
On a rainy day in 2015, David Kessler was driving in Los Angeles when he got a call from a number he didn’t recognize. “We have the vice president on the line,” a voice informed him.
Vice President Joe Biden? Kessler thought.
He immediately stopped.
As he drove to the shoulder, another voice echoed over the phone: “Hi, David! It’s Joe! How are you?”
There was camaraderie in his tone, Kessler would later recall, as if the two had known each other for years, even though they had never met.
Kessler is one of the world’s greatest grieving authorities and has published five books on death and grief, including “Finding Meaning”. The vice president was particularly affected by Kessler’s work in finding meaning after the loss. As Kessler recalled, Biden felt compelled to follow his mother’s advice: When you appreciate someone or their work, you thank them.
A few months earlier, Biden had lost his eldest son, Beau, the former Delaware attorney general, to brain cancer. He was 46 years old. It was Biden’s third deep wound of pain. In 1972, Biden’s wife, Neilia Hunter, and her baby daughter, Naomi, died in a car accident during Christmas shopping. Biden, then elected senator, was 30 years old.
Kessler heard the 72-year-old vice president describe his own role as a grief counselor – someone who helps others during grief – and how it helped him find meaning.
“He is not afraid to connect with the pain,” Kessler told Insider.
But things were getting more difficult recently, said Biden. A few months after Beau’s death, he went to Charleston, South Carolina, to comfort survivors and loved ones of the nine black faithful killed in the Emanuel AME Church shooting. The decision followed dozens of praise he has given to family friends and public figures over the years – a habit that has given Biden a reputation for being one of Capitol’s best praises.
“He talked about how, being in deep regret, it is even more difficult to appear,” recalled Kessler. “But he was not intimidated and it would never have crossed his mind not to. I think empathy is his secret power.”
Biden checks many boxes like a typical politician. The 78-year-old man has a receding hairline, marked crow’s feet, white skin and whiter hair. He’s 6 feet away and has a bright, toothy smile. Politically, he is seen as a moderate Democrat.
But a closer look at the president-elect’s life reveals a man deeply shaped by sadness, comfortable with vulnerability and possessing a unique ability to connect with other people. And yet, over his nearly five decades in politics, he has faced controversy, scandals and gaffes, some of which have led to national discussions about Biden’s suitability for certain positions.
Insider spoke with several former Biden colleagues, including former Senate majority leader Harry Reid and official White House photographer David Lienemann, as well as leadership experts such as “Grit” author and psychologist Angela Duckworth and writer Evan Osnos, to reach a conclusion. see what they say is the strengths and weaknesses of America’s new leader.
What emerges is a complex portrait of an imperfect leader.