EMAIL DETAILS

A really good one, among many.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erin-mcpike/why-beau-bidens-passing-i_b_7512850.html


Erin McPike Become a fan

Political reporter, Washingtonian, aging Millennial, Cincinnati native

*Why Beau Biden's Passing is Devastating to the Entire Country*

Posted: 06/04/2015 2:05 pm EDT Updated: 9 minutes ago


I am really sad about Beau Biden's death. Really, really sad.


A handful of news organizations have noted the outpouring of support for
the Biden family coming from all over the country since the announcement
Saturday night, much of it focused on the unfathomable grief Vice President
Biden must be experiencing -- not only because of his history of family
tragedy, but because Beau was the quintessential, perfect first-born son he
adored.


I, too, feel awful for the vice president. But the reason I'm so busted up
about this is because I think Beau's passing is a devastating loss for the
entire country, for many of the reasons why his father basically worshipped
him.


Allow me to get a little political.


My favorite part of being a political reporter is watching stars rise.
Believing in unlimited potential is part of the American way, and Beau had
it.


It's not just how he lived his life as a doting family man and a devout
Catholic. And it's not just his CV: University of Pennsylvania graduate,
law school graduate, federal prosecutor, state attorney general going after
child abuse, soldier in Iraq. That, of course, is as perfect as
presidential material can possibly get.


Add to that his spark, genuineness, earnestness and unconditional love for
public service. I firmly believe the pendulum swing in American politics is
real, and I believed that in some swing toward the Democrats in the future,
Beau would be president. That's how I'm going to remember him.


Joe Biden has said success is seeing your children turn out better, and
that he knows he succeeded. So, for Joe's sake, let's all believe Beau
would go a little farther, too.


In 2009, two days before the Inauguration, several friends and I gathered
for brunch at an apartment in Georgetown overlooking the Holy Trinity
Catholic Church knowing the Biden family and other dignitaries were there
for Sunday morning services in honor of the week's events.


I shouted hello at Beau when he got out of the motorcade carrying his son.


"That has to be a reporter, because no one knows who I am," he said,
laughing emphatically to his wife and brother.


I shouted back my name and said I worked for National Journal and let him
know I'd be covering him when he got to the Senate, because at the time,
nearly everyone in Washington figured he'd be headed there two years later.
He was tickled by the exchange.


It was nothing short of a bombshell months later when he announced he
wasn't going to run in 2010 because he wanted to finish what he started as
attorney general. A crew of Democratic officials I spoke to often and whom
I respect were livid about that and held it against him. For several years
they wouldn't entertain discussions about his future political career
because of this grudge. That surprised me.


In May of 2012, I ran into Beau at a Starbucks near the vice president's
residence and had a long talk with him about all of that. I asked him if he
thought he would run for Delaware Sen. Tom Carper's seat when he retired
but figured he might be interested in running for governor, which he said
he was.


He said to me that day, "I'll do one of them," but he was leaning toward a
future gubernatorial race because he was disappointed in the Senate.


I'll never forget his exact words: "I grew up in the Senate. I love the
smell of the Russell building." But as he talked to me, he was scratching
his head in disbelief about how dysfunctional the Senate had become and
said he had friends in the Senate who were really unhappy because they were
unable to do anything, and that really bothered him. (Senators, please take
note and fix that for him.)


The way he talked about it made it clear he loved public service with every
bone in his body. Reporters can tell when they're hearing an ambitious
dance from a politician, and what Beau said was not that. Everything he
said was real, honest and earnest. Quite frankly, I was mesmerized.


As close as he was to his father, he wanted to chart his own course, which
he did with his service in the National Guard and would have done as the
almost-certain next governor of Delaware. You have to respect that kind of
individualism and leadership.


This spring, I made an appeal to one of his top political aides to come to
Delaware to spend some time with him and talk about the upcoming governor's
race, because I'd been itching to write a long-form profile of him for a
long time. We planned to do it late this summer or early fall after the
governor's race got off the ground. This week I felt it was necessary to
find some way to write part of what I was planning.


Now I want to use this opportunity to make a bigger point in honor of Beau.


The best part of American election cycles is what we're experiencing now:
When potential candidates explore the possibility of leadership and
greatness. That's when the best stories are told and it's what makes us
love what government can achieve for everyone. But one executive producer I
worked for told me recently that attitude is Pollyannish.


Survey the news coverage of all of the major candidates before they even
entered the presidential race this year. It's remarkably cutting. It wasn't
always like that. When people offer themselves up for public office, they
deserve some real respect at the outset.


But the way we live now is chasing special people like Beau Biden away from
the system. Beau himself wasn't going anywhere. He was dedicated to it. The
next time someone like him wants to finish a job in a state office, I hope
the same officials who were miffed he didn't head to the Senate in their
timeframe will be more forgiving.


As for the media, the problem goes way beyond ungodly intrusive opposition
research (which at appropriate times is a very good and necessary thing to
weed out bad guys) and even mainstream snark. We are influencing society to
buy into a series of unbelievable nitpicks: Boring. Short. Too polished.
Sometimes, as I heard about Beau occasionally, you might even hear too
perfect.


These days, if a candidate for office isn't a lightning rod or the most
electrifying person on Earth or perfectly imperfect, they don't pass muster
for the press.


I often get that when I write about Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman, whom
I believe deserves substantial coverage for the work he does and the way he
conducts himself. One editor recently challenged me on this: "Don't you
think you might be drawn to him because you're from Ohio, too?"


Some, sure. But that's not all. When I wrote about former Indiana Gov.
Mitch Daniels as he was gearing up for a 2012 presidential bid that
ultimately didn't happen, I heard similar complaints. Too short, too
boring, not this, not that.


Give me a break. Journalists absolutely must hold government officials
accountable, but what good are we doing anyone if we're just mean? How do
these absurd complaints have any bearing on what kind of leader either
Portman or Daniels would be? Those two Republicans are the kind of public
servants Beau was, and we need more people like them on both sides of the
aisle: officials who love government and want to do good things and work
hard to do them.


One more important point here, specifically for the Democratic Party.
There's a real growing fear in the party that there is not a great farm
team. It goes beyond the current lack of challengers to Hillary Clinton -
it's down the road.


I was heartbroken the day former Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords was
shot in 2010 and had first heard she died when I was driving along T Street
in northwest Washington. I pulled over and cried. She survived, but she no
longer holds office and likely won't again.


She is another great character in the same mold as Beau. On one run-in I
had with her in an elevator when she first got to Congress, she was so
excited to be talking to a political reporter who was a girl. She said she
had just read a study about how women legislators pass more bills than men,
she encouraged me to keep going and she was charmed that I was wearing
flip-flops and packing shoes.


Giffords was beloved on Capitol Hill, and she also was headed for great
things: Before she had settled on running for then-Arizona Republican Sen.
Jon Kyl's seat in 2012, she also considered the possibility of waiting to
run for governor in 2014.


She is still doing great things, but what a travesty. Imagine a world in
2017 in which she was a senator and Beau was a governor. In my mind Gabby
Giffords and Beau Biden were going to be giants in Democratic politics in
the post-Hillary era. I'm furious about the new reality.


This time, Beau's passing has put out some of my own fire for politics, at
least for the moment. So I hope this outpouring of support means something.
I hope there are great leaders who will pick up where he left off and I
hope the media gives them a real chance to succeed.


Let's make sure that is part of his legacy.


--

Alexander Snyder Mackler
(302) 598-867