“Joe Biden is the most human of human beings, and he radiates a kind of heart and authenticity — and it’s rooted in family. And everyone knows his story and the travails that he and his family have been through,” said David Axelrod, the former Obama political chief. “It’s unfathomable to a lot of us who know Biden — and I think most Americans feel they do by now — to see how much sadness could visit one man and one family.”
Axelrod said the only day in his two years on staff at the White House that he remembers Obama being distracted was the day in 2010 when Beau Biden had his stroke — the first public sign of the brain cancer that took his life.
“He just stared out the window and started talking about how hard this would be for Joe,” Axelrod recalled.
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Axelrod remembers when he and David Plouffe flew to Delaware for Biden’s final running mate interview. Beau and Jill Biden picked them up in the airport, and drove them to Biden’s sister’s house, where the then-senator met them and sat down with them, but not before giving Beau a kiss and telling him he’d be by to see his grandchildren afterward.
“The first thing I said to Sen. Obama was, ‘There’s something really special about that family,’” Axelrod said. “It was just palpable, and really disarming and sweet.”