Joe Biden

My teenaged daughter raved about this book, the autobiography of former Vice President Joe Biden up to the point of his 2008 run for the presidency. She urged me to read it and I'm happy I did. Politically, I line up pretty well with Mr. Biden, so I didn't find a great deal to argue with in that area. And Biden tells his affecting and often moving life story with grace, self-deprecation, and, at times, courage. The tragedies and triumphs of his life are quite engaging stories, but I found most fascinating the details of his work on the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, the Balkan conflict of the 1990s, and his conflict with the Bush White House on the Iraq war. It's a fascinating story from any perspective.… (altro)

As someone who really didn't know much about Biden's personal life or his achievements as Vice-President, I found this book to be an interesting memoir. The focus was split between his son, Beau's, struggle with glioblastoma and his various foreign policy achievements in the Ukraine, Iraq, and South America.

The reader gets some sense of who Biden is as a man . . .at least the good aspects. Caring, loyal, family-oriented. The flaws are pretty masked, but like nearly all politicians, he takes the credit he can regardless of how arms length the achievement might be. But that's to be expected.

The final few chapters address Biden's "go, no go" decision making as it pertains to the last presidential election. It sounds like he really agonized about it, and almost as though he does regret not going for it. I suspect we will see him as a major political figure again at some point and in some capacity. His appetite for public service is clearly still strong.

A short fast read that felt more educational to me than emotional, and that gives a sense of the man who arguably had the possibility of becoming president.… (altro)