33
I don’t remember a lot. I was in a fog,” she says. “But
I’ll never forget the conversation with him. Through
the phone I could feel true empathy from somebody
who had walked that path.” She only found out later
that Biden’s son had a terminal illness at the time.
Biden’s events can feel like a rolling therapy ses-
sion. A large chunk of time is set aside after every
speech for Biden to interact with voters, many of
whom tell him about their own encounters with
trauma and death. Most people would find this con-
stant performance of comfort, the assumption of so
many strangers’ burdens, to be draining. Not Biden.
“Joe’s a healer,” Jill says. “He feels people’s problems
because he’s been through a lot of it himself. And it sat-
isfies that feeling of purpose that he’s helping others.”
biden’s mosT consequenTial decision this cam-
paign has been not to make a hard turn to the left.
(Some of his advisers pushed him to reconsider de-
fending his work on the crime bill. He refused, saying
it demonstrated his pragmatism.) Pressed to apolo-
gize for working with segregationists in the Senate, he
insisted it proves he can work even with today’s Re-
publicans. “Some of my colleagues don’t think we can
unite the country,” Biden says on the bus, positioning
a throw pillow at the small of his back on the narrow
bench. His jacket is off, his tie loosened. “They make
fun of me that I think I can,” he continues. “Well, if we
don’t unite the country, if we don’t bring it back to-
gether, start to be able to work together, we’re done.”
It’s a gamble to hawk comity while your rivals in-
veigh against a broken system and a bitter enemy.
Taking in Biden’s long-winded Q. and A.s can feel
like a warm bath: not necessarily thrilling, but deeply
soothing. His advisers believe voters are hungry for
reconciliation. “They’re scared to death because they
think the character of the country is going to change in
a way that will never be repaired,” Donilon, the cam-
paign’s chief strategist, says of voters. “That’s what
Biden is talking about. That is a resilient message.”
The other key pitch is that Biden offers the best
chance of beating Trump. “We can win in North Car-
olina, we can win in Georgia, we can win in Texas, we
can win in Arizona, we can win Pennsylvania,” Biden
says. “The question is, who do you think helps? You
think Bernie or Elizabeth helps them win in North
Carolina or Georgia? You know the answer.”
Yet many Democrats fear nominating Biden is a di-
saster waiting to happen. Trump could run the same
playbook he ran against Clinton: insinuating physical
decline, pointing out paid speeches and other ties to
big banks, the vague scent of legal-but-sleazy asso-
ciations, “experience” turned into an epithet against
the longtime Washington insider. Biden allies recog-
nize the threat and insist they’re girding for a brawl.
Says Senator Chris Coons of Delaware: “We’re going
to go right back at him.”
Biden’s bus trundles on through Iowa, the win-
dows so darkened by his campaign slogan that it’s
impossible to see the landscape as it passes by.
“My mom used to say, as long as you’re alive—”
he pauses and emits a chuckle. “You’re not dead
until you see the face of God.” —With reporting by
PhiliP ellioTT/deS moiNeS, iowa •^
Biden backstage
before his campaign
event in Mason City