[ad_1]
Standing in an empty classroom where she taught English in the 1990s, Jill Biden gave a moving speech at the Democratic Party convention in August last year, after her husband was officially nominated as a candidate in the US presidential elections. .UU.
At the end of his message, the current president, Joe biden, appeared on the scene, hugged her and praised her qualities as a future first lady of the United States.
“For all of you across the country, think of your favorite teacher, the one who gave you the confidence to believe in yourself. That’s the kind of first lady that Jill Biden would be,” said the then candidate. .
Months later, Jill Biden is the new first lady, a position not so unfamiliar to her.
Biden was vice president under Barack Obama’s administration between 2009 and 2017, which is why she was America’s “second lady”.
From this position, he promoted educational causes and had privileged access Michelle obama, the first lady at the time. I have worked with her on initiatives like “Joining Forces” to help American veterans.
What else do we know about Jill Biden and what can we expect from her work in the White House?
Jill Jacobs was born in June 1951 in the state of New Jersey. The oldest of five sisters, she grew up in Willow Grove, a suburb of Philadelphia.
Remarried to her current husband, she was previously married for five years to former college football player Bill Stevenson.
She met Joe Biden after losing her first wife and 13-month-old daughter in a car crash in 1972. Her sons Beau and Hunter survived the crash.
Jill says a brother of Joe introduced them in 1975. At that time, he was already a Delaware state senator and she was still in college.
“I was a senior and I dated guys who wore jeans and a t-shirt. But he came knocking on the door wearing a sports coat and moccasins, and I thought, ‘God this will never work, not even in a’ He was nine years older than me! ‘ Jill said in an interview with Vogue in 2016.
“But we went to see ‘A Man and a Woman’ at the movies in Philadelphia, and we hit it off really well,” he added of the first date.
Jill also said Joe offered her five times before agreeing.
“I couldn’t allow them [Beau y Hunter, los hijos de Joe] lost another mother. So I had to be 100% sure, ”she explained.
The couple married in New York in 1977. Their daughter, Ashley, was born in 1981.
“I think he knows me better than I know myself,” Joe Biden said of his wife in an August interview with CBS reporter Rita Braver, the BBC’s US partner.
Offering her post in support of her husband’s candidacy, Jill Biden spoke about the family and the hardships she has faced.
“I know that if we turn this country over to Joe, he will do for your family what he has done for ours: unite and move forward when needed, keep America’s promise to us all,” he said. he stressed during his speech.
Her post wasn’t just about promoting her husband. Delivering her from a classroom has been a guide to her long career in education and a symbolic gesture of the concerns she will have as the First Lady of the United States.
Jill Biden, 69, has a bachelor’s and two masters degrees, and received a doctorate in education from the University of Delaware in 2007.
The new first lady has spent decades working as a teacher. In the 1980s, he taught English in a psychiatric hospital for adolescents.
Between 1991 and 1993, he taught English at Brandywine Public High School in Delaware. The speech at the Democratic Convention was delivered precisely in what had been his old classroom at that school.
For the next 15 years, Jill Biden taught at Delaware Technical & Community College.
After Obama and Biden’s triumph in 2009, he moved to Washington DC, but continued to teach English at Northern Virginia Community College.
“Teaching is not what I do. It is what I am”, he argues.
Her activities during the Obama administration extended far beyond the classroom, for at the same time as she was teaching she was fulfilling her duties as second lady.
In this position, was dedicated to promoting community colleges (American higher education institutions), which he has always called “one of America’s best kept secrets,” according to the Obama White House page.
He has also been dedicated to the defense of military families and, along with Michelle Obama, launched the Joining Forces initiative to help veterans and their families access educational programs and employment resources.
Also, in 2012, he published a children’s book titled Remember, God bless our troops based on the experience of his granddaughter Natalie, daughter of Beau Biden, of being in a military family.
Beau, who died of cancer in 2015, was deployed with the Iraq National Guard in 2008 for a year.
Fighting breast cancer is another line of action for Jill Biden, even before being the second lady.
In 1993, she founded the Biden Breast Health Initiative to raise awareness about early detection after four friends were diagnosed with this cancer.
What am I going to do now but be in the spotlight as First Lady?
Jill Biden is an “active” first lady, says Mark Johnson, professor of political science at Rice University in the United States.
Although not “political” in the partisan sense like Hillary Clinton was, because that will make her a target of attacks, specifies the expert.
“I would expect more to follow the model of Michelle Obama, who was involved in political activities, but ones that were more unifying than divisions, like focusing on veterans, child welfare, but do not try to get health insurance approval. for everyone or for something more political, ”Johnson says.
“And if there is anything we want to get out of her speech at the Convention, it is that education is an important issue for her, so we hope that she will focus on that during her tenure,” he also said.
Karen Kedrowski, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University, also believes that Jill Biden will focus on educational issues.
“He has a doctorate in education and has long taught at community colleges. she especially defends these schools and how they serve students who otherwise would not have access to higher education, ”the expert told BBC Mundo.
In the August interview with CBS, journalist Rita Braver asked Jill Biden if she thought she would continue teaching if she became first lady.
“I hope so,” he replied.
“Really?” Braver replied.
“I would love to. If we get to the White House, I will continue to teach. It is important, and I want people to value teachers, know their contributions and elevate the profession,” said Jill Biden.
But Professor Johnson believes if he continued to teach it would only be symbolic.
“If she really does, it will be purely symbolic as it may have a more positive effect on her platform as first lady,” the analyst said.
Kedrowski finds the logistics of Jill Biden who continues to teach difficult, due to the time required by her White House position and because if she were to teach in person, the “Secret Service agents” would have to be at the school where she was. worked.
In addition, no first lady of the United States has held any other position in the White House.
As she demonstrated during her years as a “second lady”, Jill Biden also has interests other than education.
“She’s also very active in breast cancer prevention. I think it’s also likely that she will continue Michelle Obama’s initiative to promote physical activity. She’s a runner, so she’s interested in I imagine that she will also continue to work to provide services to family members of veterans, ”Kedrowski says.
In an interview with CNN in September 2020, Jill Biden said she is “reigniting ‘Joining Forces’.”
“[Cuando era segunda dama] I asked Beau what Michelle and I should be working on and he said, “In mental health. So we need to expand mental health services for members of the military, ”he told CNN, adding that schools also need the same services.
In Professor Johnson’s opinion, Jill Biden would do well to continue promoting these causes because “these are issues that bring people together.”
In addition to Jill Biden’s concerns, Johnson points to the advantage of having been second lady for eight years.
“After seeing Michelle Obama for eight years, she has a clear idea of the responsibilities and challenges of a first lady,” says the expert.
“Obama has been a very successful first lady and Jill Biden has the luxury of seeing her up close, so we can expect her to emulate many of the successful practices of her predecessor,” he adds.
Unlike Melania Trump, who chose a more reserved style than the other First Ladies, Jill Biden is more used to being in the public eye, Seala Kedrowski.
“She understands the power of a first lady to promote causes”, explains the expert.
Johnson thinks Biden “may be better prepared than any other first lady besides Barbara Bush. [esposa de George W.H. Bush y segunda dama durante el gobierno de Ronald Reagan]”.
“And I think Jill Biden had a better and closer relationship with Obama than Barbara Bush with Nancy Reagan,” he says.
“Along with Barbara Bush, Jill Biden will be the most experienced first lady we’ve ever had,” Johnson concludes.
.
[ad_2]
Source link