[ad_1]
WILMINGTON, Del. – Speaking to a nation devastated by crises, Jill Biden used her prime-time speech on the second night of the Democratic convention to make the case that her husband understood the pressing challenges facing American families – and that he had the experience and character to meet the moment.
Speaking in a classroom at Brandywine High School, where she once taught English in the 1990s, Dr Biden described how the pandemic had disrupted education in the country, tearing the fabric of families, communities and the country’s economy.
“This silence is heavy. You can hear the anxiety echoing in the empty hallways, ”said Dr. Biden. “There is no smell of new notebooks or freshly waxed floors. The rooms are dark because the bright young faces that should fill them are now confined in boxes on a computer screen.
“I hear it from a lot of you – the frustration of parents juggling work while supporting their children’s learning,” she says. “The desperation in the queues that stretch before food banks, and the indescribable pain that follows every last lonely breath that follows when the fans turn off.
It was a crisis, Dr Biden said, that her husband was preparing for his whole life.
“I know that if we turn this nation over to Joe, he will do for your family what he did for ours,” Dr. Biden said. “Gather us and make us together. Help us move forward in our difficult times. Keep America’s promise to all of us. “
Although Dr Biden spent eight years as the Second Lady of the United States, the speech offered a broader introduction to the wider American electorate who may not have been so familiar with the wife of the former vice-president.
And for a while, it was by design. While Dr. Biden had a number of political priorities as Second Lady, including defending military families and promoting community colleges, she was also focused on sustaining her own career. She worked as an English teacher at Northern Virginia Community College throughout the eight years of the Obama administration and in the countryside, noting papers on airplanes and at events.
But Dr Biden, 69, who was a reluctant political bride at the start of her marriage to Joseph R. Biden Jr., 77, and who was skeptical of several previous talks about the presidential elections, was entirely out of touch. agreement with the 2020 campaign of her husband, allies. say. And this cycle, Dr. Biden has become one of the most important and powerful surrogates for her husband.
Before the pandemic hit, she maintained a sometimes more rigorous public calendar than Mr. Biden’s, hosting her own events and fundraisers, and often speaking to Mr. Biden’s character. She has maintained these efforts through virtual events in recent months.
On Tuesday, as she wrapped up an evening featuring former presidents and two former secretaries of state, John F. Kerry and Colin Powell, Dr Biden’s speech touched on more personal issues of grief and resilience. In 1972, Mr. Biden’s first wife and a little girl died in a car accident; in 2015, the Bidens lost their eldest son, Beau, to brain cancer.
“After our son Beau died from cancer, I wondered if I was going to smile or feel joy again,” said Dr. Biden. “It was summer, but there was no more heat for me.”
But, she said, her husband’s determination pulled the family into tragedy. And while Mr. Biden may be inclined to slip up in speeches, perhaps his greatest strength is his ability to empathize with others, a skill that the allies say is partly rooted. in his own experiences with the family tragedy.
“There are times when I couldn’t imagine how he did it – how he put one foot in front of the other and kept going,” Dr. Biden said. “But I always understood why he did it.
“He does it for you,” she added.
Before speaking, Dr Biden appeared with Mr Biden in an introductory video that told their story of how they met and how they raised their family.
“I asked her to marry me five times,” Mr. Biden said. Dr Biden replied that “I had to be sure it had to be forever.”
For most of the video, the tables turned: it was Mr. Biden praising Dr. Biden. “She’s so tough and loyal,” he says.
If Mr. Biden were to emerge victorious in November, a rhythm of the Obama administration would return to the White House: Dr. Biden plans to continue teaching.
“If we get to the White House, I will continue to teach,” Dr. Biden said in an interview with CBS Sunday morning.
This probably won’t surprise Mr. Biden. “Teaching is not what Jill does,” Biden said. “That’s who she is.”
[ad_2]
Source link