Issue #477 The Choice Friday, January 26, 2024
When Sen. Joe Biden agreed to take the number two job working as Vice President for Barack Obama, it wasn’t exactly an easy decision. He admitted once that it was his elderly mother, Catherine Finnegan, who cast the deciding vote giving him essentially no option but to accept the offer. From People magazine in an interview with Conan O’Brien:
The president said his mother, Catherine Finnegan, was the first person he called after Obama asked him to consider being his vice president during the 2008 campaign.
"I called her and I said, 'The President asked me to consider being Vice President. I don't want to do that.' I said, Barack, 'I don't wanna be Vice President.' Finally, he said, 'Well, damn it's only you’."
It was his mom, Biden says, who ultimately convinced him to accept.
"I looked at my mom who was living with me because my dad had passed, and she said, 'Joey, let me get to something. Remember I called you and I asked you about what kind of guy he was and you said he was honest and smart?' I said, 'Yeah.' 'Let me get this straight, honey. The first black man has a chance to be President, he says he needs you, and you told him no?' "
And when she put it that way, well, yeah. No, of course, he wasn’t gonna refuse. What was he thinking?
What Biden was thinking was that he had also been in the running for the Democratic nomination in 2008, and he was pretty close to being as pissed off that he had lost to this young upstart with so much less experience than him as was Hillary Clinton. Clinton was another extremely experienced politician - although not nearly as seasoned as Biden - who also felt that it was her turn. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, felt the same way and had no problem letting it be known that Obama really should take a back seat and let the grownups take charge this time around.
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