海角大神

Joe Biden鈥檚 political career hasn鈥檛 always run smooth. He has run for president twice (1988 and 2008) and in their wisdom American voters both times were quite clear that he was not their choice for the office.

His personal life has been marred by tragedy. His first wife and a young daughter were killed in an automobile accident shortly after his election to the Senate in 1972. His elder son Beau died of cancer in 2015.

But he remains living proof that loss and misfortune are not inevitable sculptors of any person鈥檚 life. Garrulous, empathetic, open-minded, and sneaky sharp, Mr. Biden has long been the rare Washington insider with genuine friends of all political persuasions. As vice president, he has been invaluable to President Obama as a sounding board, emissary, and guide to Capitol Hill鈥檚 inscrutable ways.

On Thursday, Mr. Obama surprised Biden with a presentation of the Medal of Freedom, the nation鈥檚 highest civilian honor. The award came 鈥渨ith distinction,鈥� an added rank recent presidents have used only for Pope John Paul II, former President Ronald Reagan, and Gen. Colin Powell.

Before hanging the heavy decoration around Biden鈥檚 neck, Obama called him the 鈥渂est vice president America鈥檚 ever seen鈥� and a 鈥渓ion of American history.鈥�

But something else Obama said 鈥� quoting Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham 鈥� hinted at the key to his second-in-command鈥檚 success: 鈥淚f you can鈥檛 admire Biden as a person, you鈥檝e got a problem. He鈥檚 as good a man as God ever created.鈥�

In today鈥檚 politics, partisanship rules. And it鈥檚 a new kind of partisanship, one in which both sides see the other, increasingly, as not just wrong, but personally bad. Whether someone is a Democrat or Republican fuels negative or positive judgments about personality. It鈥檚 becoming a kind of unthinking prejudice.

Joe Biden has long seemed the opposite of this. He meets opponents and supporters alike as people first, members of families with real lives. In his heartfelt acceptance 鈥� characteristically, he was unable to keep from tearing up 鈥� Biden talked about the members of his own family, and then he talked about the members of Obama鈥檚 family. He compared their respective mothers. He described the time when his sons Beau and Hunter stopped him 鈥� as vice president 鈥� from leaping off a bridge in a national park into a river.

鈥淭hey said, 鈥楾he Secret Service doesn鈥檛 want you up there, Dad!鈥� 鈥� Biden remembered.

In an election year when so much focus has been on working class voters, Biden is one of the few politicians who could genuinely call himself one of them 鈥� a son of Scranton, Pa., whose son served in the military with distinction. His common touch was sometimes mocked but always appreciated.

The Onion, a satirical newspaper, printed lampoon articles about a bare-chested 鈥淯ncle Joe鈥� in the White House driveway. A 2013 petition on the White House website called for Biden to have his own reality TV show on C-SPAN, arguing: 鈥淰ice President Joe Biden has a demonstrated ability to bring people together, whether at the negotiating table or at the neighborhood diner.鈥�

In December, the Senate held something of a going-away session for Biden, a longtime member of the chamber and, as vice president, its presiding officer. One senator in particular gave a moving tribute to Biden and his ability to rise above the terrible personal losses of his life.

鈥淭he presiding officer will be the first to tell you he鈥檇 been blessed in many ways,鈥� said the senator. 鈥淗e鈥檚 also been tested, knocked down, pushed to the edge of what anyone could be expected to bear. But from the grip of unknowable despair came a new man, a better man, stronger and more compassionate, grateful for every moment, appreciative of what really matters.鈥�

The lawmaker who spoke those words was majority leader Mitch McConnell, Republican, of Kentucky.

Washington will miss Joe Biden. Literally. On the positive side, it probably will not be long before the Onion produces a satirical story about Biden pawning the Medal of Freedom to pay for parts for his Trans-Am.