The gratitude we owe to Joseph R. Biden
“President Biden is praised for his inclusive actions and willingness to evolve, particularly in championing LGBTQ+ rights and appointing diverse individuals to his administration. Despite facing criticism and low expectations, Biden’s determination to address complex issues and his belief in the American people’s capacity for progress are commendable. While acknowledging his imperfections, the author expresses gratitude for Biden’s efforts to make the nation more inclusive and representative.
For his inclusive nature and his willingness to grow, I thank the president — and you should, too.
On New Year’s Eve, I attended a beautiful wedding, a jubilant mix of friends and family. In the mix was the bride’s uncle — President Joseph R. Biden. I was eager to speak to him before we sat down for dinner. I needed to say thank you.
My thank-you to Biden was deeply personal. This straight White Irish Catholic man did historic things as vice president and then as president to make this African American and out gay married man feel more a part of the American story.
Biden isn’t perfect. Any critic could trawl his 50 years in public life to find comments and votes that reflected the popular sentiments of the time but might shock consciences today. As the nation evolved, so did he.
For instance, Biden was among the 85 senators who voted in 1996 to pass the Defense of Marriage Act that prohibited marriage for same-sex couples. Fast-forward to 2012. President Barack Obama came out in favor of same-sex marriage — but three days after Biden, his vice president, made the same declaration on “Meet the Press.”Biden caught hell inside the White House for appearing to push the president. It made him a hero to millions outside the White House.
When Biden became president, he continued weaving LGBTQ+ Americans into their nation’s fabric. He signed the Respect for Marriage Act that requiring recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages like mine. He gave us the first out gay man confirmed to the Cabinet, the first out lesbian to serve as press secretary and the first out transgender person confirmed to a position by the Senate.
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Were it not for the Biden presidency, we wouldn’t have had Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman elected to the position. We wouldn’t have Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman confirmed to the Supreme Court. And we wouldn’t have more Black women appointed to the circuit courts than by all of Biden’s predecessors combined.
My admiration for Biden is also rooted in the character of a man whose lifetime of public service is intertwined with a lifetime of public pain.
In 2017, we were seated across from each other on a stage in Schenectady, New York, discussing “Promise Me, Dad,” his moving memoir about his son Beau’s fight against brain cancer. As he spoke of Beau, Biden physically folded into himself. Head bowed. Eyes downcast. Shoulders slumped. But as soon as the conversation turned to politics, Biden brightened. He sat up straight. He looked me in the eyes. He held forth like a man ready for the game. Two years later, he was a candidate again.
During an interview in South Carolina in 2019, I asked him how he could break the narrative that he was too old to run. “Well, I can only break out of it when I win,” he told me. Classic response from a man determined to defy the low expectations that hounded him his entire political life. And defy them he did.
Biden went on to win the Democratic nomination and the White House in 2020. Once in office, Biden kept defying the odds by racking up legislative victoriesthat seemed impossible and helping stave off a presumed red wave in 2022. After interviews with Biden in 2022 and 2024, I felt I fully understood what fueled him. He loves the job because of the power it gives him to solve problems — the more intractable the better.
But low expectations caught up with Biden last year in Atlanta. His painful performance on the debate stage gave Democratic Party detractors what they needed to drum him out of his race for reelection.
The latest AP-NORC poll found Biden with a lower approval rating as he leaves than his predecessor (and successor) had in 2020, I’m confident history will judge him extremely favorably. Yes, he met failures. Biden wasn’t able to keep some of his campaign promises, like getting the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act passed. Plus, he resisted ending the Senate filibuster, which would have helped get the legislation passed. Given what we know now, he should have gotten out of the race earlier.
Still, Biden is a good man who brought his entire imperfect self to the world’s most unforgiving job, and his faith in the American people was unshakable. “We’re the United State of America,” Biden says at the end of almost every speech. “There’s nothing beyond our capacity if we set our mind to it and we do it together.”
I swell with pride every time I hear him say it, for I know that I am part of the “our” in his vision. He has shown me by his actions. And for that I had to say thank you.“
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