As I'm sure you all know, I love Michelle Obama (a lot of times, I like her more than Barack ~lol~), but I didn't really know enough about Jill Biden. I know she has a D.Ed., and I know she's a teacher which means she's big on education (which is my top issue). I just ran into this video on YouTube where Jill talks about how she met Joe and fell in love with him and his sons:
In that video she's funny, smart, and endearing. I can see right away why she and Michelle get along so famously.
Now, Barack and Michelle have a pretty cool love story, but I must say, the Biden's story is also great:
Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. has said he first saw pictures of Jill Jacobs in March 1975 in an advertisement for a local park in Wilmington, Del. The young blonde caught his eye. She was beautiful — you might call her drop-dead gorgeous.
That night, his brother, Frank, told him he had the number of a young woman that the senator would like, mainly because she did not like politics. Mr. Biden called her the next day and asked her out, for that very night. She was busy. Mr. Biden persisted. He was in town for only one night. Couldn’t she change her plans?
She did, finally. And when Mr. Biden arrived to pick her up, she turned out to be the woman in the advertisement.
[snip]
Mr. Cramer said she was impressed that Mr. Biden had showed up in a suit and shook her hand good night. She called her mother that night to say she had finally met a gentleman.
Their lives quickly became intertwined, and eventually, his young sons asked him when "we" were going to get married. He had to ask her five times before she overcame her hesitation at becoming a full-time mother and meeting the public demands of a political spouse. Of Mr. Biden, she said that she came to realize that "anybody who can love that deeply once can do it again."
They were married on June 17, 1977, with Mr. Biden’s sons at the altar at the ceremony, at the United Nations chapel. The boys went on the honeymoon, too.
I mean seriously? That sounds like something I'd read in one of my romance novels (they are my guilty pleasure :o) )
I did find this funny though:
Balancing that autonomous streak with the life of a political spouse gave her pause: Biden had to propose five times before she agreed to marry him.
Wow, our candidates were PERSISTENT when it came to courting their wives!
Not only is Jill Biden beautiful inside and out, but she's smart and accomplished in her own right:
Jill Tracy Jacobs Biden, 57, has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware, two master’s degrees, from West Chester University and Villanova University, and a doctorate in education from the University of Delaware. She has been a teacher for more than two decades, including time teaching history to emotionally disturbed teenagers. She is now a professor of English at Delaware Technical and Community College.
[snip]
Before she began teaching at the community college 15 years ago, she spent 13 years in public schools, where she was a reading specialist and English teacher, and she worked for the Rockford Psychiatric Hospital Adolescent Program. In 1993, she started the Biden Breast Health Initiative, educating high school girls in Delaware about proper breast health. She runs five miles five days a week, and ran in the Marine Corps Marathon.
Color me impressed! What is it with our candidates, and finding wives that could probably ALSO run and win? :o) Not that I'm complaining!
We also have Jill to thank for Joe running for President this year:
She had been able to live out of the spotlight, even though she was married to a senator, because Mr. Biden returned to his Wilmington, Del., home every night by train from Washington. She was never part of the capital scene and not much interested in it. Unlike most political wives, when her husband first ran for president, in 1988, she traveled with him, not separately.
But she became so dismayed after George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004 that she encouraged her husband to seek the presidency in the 2008 campaign. She was more public this time, until he dropped out in January after the Iowa caucuses.
Here she is talking to Chris Matthews during the Iowa campaign:
Here is a profile they did on her during the convention:
Time did an interview with her during the primaries:
What would be your signature issue as First Lady?
Having been a teacher for many years, I would have to say that education would be my number one priority. But, as a mother as well as a teacher, I would add that education is not just about reading, writing and arithmetic — it's about teaching our children how to keep themselves healthy. So, my focus would include teaching about health issues like obesity, the dangers of smoking and educating young girls about breast cancer and the importance of self exams.
Who is your First Lady role model?
I have always had a great deal of respect and admiration for Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a true humanitarian and champion of Women's Rights and Civil Rights. I especially love the story about her efforts to break the gender barriers in the world of journalism by holding weekly press conferences for women journalists only forcing newspapers to hire women.
What don't we know about your spouse?
Most people probably don't know that Joe has a romantic side to him.
What do you like most about the campaign trail?
On the campaign trail, I have the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life — from residents at a battered women's shelter to mentally handicap children to retirees — and learn about their lives and struggles. It is both humbling to be welcomed into their lives and gratifying to think that Joe could help solve their troubles.
What do you like least?
I miss being away from home.
Would you expect to have a say in the President's policies?
For years, Joe has had to listen to me go on about the problems in our education system and I don't see how him becoming President would change that. So, I'm certainly going to continue talking about the issues that I care about.
What's the one TV show you and your spouse try not to miss?
Philadelphia Eagles games!
What's the one campaign food that you could go your whole life never eating again?
Actually, after many years on the campaign trail, there is not a particular food that I've come across that I would avoid. But, there is a food that I hope I have the opportunity to have again. A few months ago when we were on the trail in Iowa — literally on a bike trail — riding a day of the RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Bike Ride Across Iowa), we came across these amazing fruit pies during a rest break in a small town in the northeastern part of the state. Hopefully, next summer, we will be back on the trail and will track them down again.
Much like Michelle, Jill isn't in it for the politics:
"Politics is not her first love, policy is," said John Flaherty, who served on the senator's Delaware staff from 1987 to 1995. "Unlike a lot of political wives, she's very low-key. A lot of people gravitate toward the limelight, use the position for social status, but she's tried to utilize that for causes."
These include Book Buddies, a program to get books into the hands of young low-income children, and Boots on the Ground, a Delaware-based group that supports members of the military and their families. Co-founder Kathy Greenwell noted that Biden is a military mother herself -- her stepson Beau will be going to Iraq in October with the National Guard.
Even so, Biden's commitment surprised her.
"She's definitely one who will dig in and do the hard work," Greenwell said.
[snip]
Biden also founded the Biden Breast Health Initiative, or BBHI, after four friends were diagnosed with breast cancer and one died. The program has taught 7,000 high school girls the basics of good breast health. When a BBHI board member nominated her for an honor and she won, Biden turned it down.
"She called later to say how much she appreciated it, but that she didn't like the spotlight," said Sonia Sloan, the board member and an old family friend. Sloan also notes that Biden studied and taught under her maiden name. "She didn't want any special consideration," Sloan said.
I already thought Jill was great before I started looking for more info on her, but from what I've found she's not just great, she's PHENOMENAL! Joe was definitely very lucky to get her, and I'm thrilled that after all of these years they are still so in love. Yet another reason why the Obama/Biden ticket is the way to go! (by Obama/Biden, I mean Michelle and Jill ~lol~)
Their husbands have teamed up to take on John McCain in the U.S. election.
Now Michelle Obama and Jill Biden aim to form their own double act, insisting they 'have chemistry'.
The two women had hardly spoken before Joe Biden was unveiled as Obama's No 2, but Mrs Biden said she and Mrs Obama have already hit it off.
'If you think those guys have chemistry, I think we have chemistry,' she said after hugging Michelle, 44, on stage at a rally in Springfield, Illinois.
Even Joe sees it:
"I don't know if you've observed it but there's real chemistry, this is not a joke. It's real. And between my wife Jill and Michelle. And by the way, the next Republican or right wing guy who tells me about 'Michelle is this angry woman', listen to that speech of hers."
Biden said his favorite line from the convention was when his granddaughters and Obama's two daughters asked to have a sleepover, which they were allowed in a hotel room.
So yeah, Jill rocks! Joe (and Beau and Hunter) showed great judgment in marrying her!
Tips, recs, and comments are all welcome! This woman is awesome!
UPDATE I wasn't planning on updating this diary (nothing to really add), but I must say this. There are some out there who take umbrage with the title. The title is in no way meant to say that women are better than men (even though we are j/k) or that gay men cannot be great, or that lesbians cannot be great, or that women stand behind men, or that women cannot be great. Please stop ruining the diary with those comments. You are thinking too hard, it's just meant to be a light/funny line that some of us women (and some men) like to use. This is not in ANY way a "man-hating" diary. In fact, it boggles my mind that the title supposedly demeans women at the same time that it hates/demeans men.
With that being said, I'm not changing the title, if you don't like it, sorry. Just wanted to put that out there so I don't end up replying to all of the comments.
Now, back to the positivity!