Joe Biden ends a lifetime of public service – a rare politician with a human touch

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Every reporter who has worked in Washington, D.C., likely has a Joe Biden story, a consequence of the president’s half-century on the national political stage.

But there’s more to it than that.

Biden grew up in the business living the adage that all politics is local. And that extended to his dealings with the press.

Now that he has effectively affixed an end date to a lifetime in public service, I thought it appropriate to share an encounter that, for me, has long defined a politician with the consummate human touch.

It was 2005, and Paste BN had just published a critical, 10-year assessment of a bold public safety initiative aimed at adding 100,000 police officers to America’s streets. It was a signature plan of the Clinton administration, known as COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) and its legislative architect was then-Sen. Joe Biden.

My colleague and I visited police departments across the country to take stock of the unprecedented federal effort. We interviewed top law enforcement experts and academics, reviewed hundreds of documents before challenging the popular notion at the time that COPS was a significant factor in reducing crime.

The news did not sit well with the senior senator from Delaware.

Biden called me to complain – until I played the Delaware card

I was on my way to the gym that evening when a Biden aide reached me, saying the senator wanted to talk. He was not happy, and he let me know it on the phone ‒ for what seemed like an eternity. I pulled into a parking space and he still hadn’t paused for a breath, while mixing in a few jabs at my reporting. I think “lousy” was mentioned.

I figured I’d let him keep swinging as I planned a response. He hadn’t punched any holes in our work, so I took a different tack: I played the Delaware card. Nothing he said indicated that he knew my family was from Wilmington, that my uncle was one of his early high school football coaches at Archmere Academy, where my dad also was an older alum. (Delaware really is that small.)

Dad delivered much more than the mail: For mail carriers, neighborhoods and my family, the US Postal Service is personal

When Sen. Biden finally seemed to be running out of gas, I jumped in. “That’s a pretty articulate argument for an Archmere guy,” I said, bracing for another hailstorm.

I filled the brief pause, suggesting that not even a graduate of rival Salesianum School, like me, could likely mount such a defense.

The tense conversation melted into an immediate telephonic embrace: We talked about family, sports. Mostly Delaware stuff before the call wound to an end.

'OK, Joe, we need to move this along'

I don’t think I ever made it to the gym that day, but I’ve been repeatedly reminded since of Biden’s deeply personal touch:

• The time another former reporter colleague recounted how Biden recognized her on the train leaving Washington one evening, took a seat and never stopped gabbing until "Amtrak Joe" bounded off at the platform in Wilmington.
• The times when reporters would ambush Biden just off the Senate floor where he would take every question until he was often the last person standing.
• The time at a White House photo opportunity when my wife, a communications consultant, reminded then-Vice President Biden of our family’s connection, as President Barack Obama listened in. Biden took her hand and wouldn’t let go until Obama intervened, referring to the long line of well-wishers waiting their turn.

“OK, Joe,” Obama said with a smile, “we need to move this along.”

Joe Biden is moving along again, but this time to an exit in politics ‒ like President Lyndon Johnson, a master of the Senate who also decided not to seek reelection at a time of crisis. Earlier this week, Biden paid tribute to the former president, visiting the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library at the University of Texas on the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.

There have been few more skilled political operators than Johnson, but Biden personified the credo that all politics is local and deeply personal.

Kevin Johnson covered the Justice Department and national law enforcement issues for Paste BN for 28 years. He now helps coordinate continuing training for journalists at the National Press Foundation.