Biden Refuses to Define Others by their Worst Acts: Day 49 out of 100 Days of Loving Joe Biden

by GoodNewsRoundup

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Friday, Aug. 28, 2020 Friday, Aug. 28, 2020 at 4:00:03am PDT

One of the most puzzling, frustrating, and destructive aspects of our thinking is to define others by their worst acts. We hear about one decision a politician made, one thing that that we disagree with, one mistake that someone made, and we write them off completely.

Joe Biden doesn’t do that. He knows he has made mistakes in his life (as we all have). Biden works to grow and learn from his mistakes. He gives that same grace and wisdom to other people.

He also knows that he can disagree with someone on many issues -- or even see some of what someone does as wrong -- and still find ways to connect with them. He can still find common ground. He gets that people are complex and he tries to find the best in people so that he can work with them to get the best for America.

This leads to even his opponents respecting him and learning from him.

For example, Biden joined the Senate on a platform of civil rights and he stuck that platform, pushing for civil rights legislation for his entire career. Despite that, he refused to ignore the capacity for change in men like Strom Thurmond. Biden found common ground with Thurmond and, over the course of his years, Thurmond did change.

Modjeska Simpkins, a longtime advocate for civil rights in South Carolina, told The News before her death that she believed Thurmond had genuinely changed. "Down there somewhere, there was something fundamentally all right" about the senator. She said she asked Thurmond for help, and "he has never refused to help, and he has helped in every case."

I.S. Leevy Johnson was one of the first blacks elected to the South Carolina General Assembly in the 1970s. He said Thurmond was "not forgiven for the obstacles he put in the path of African-Americans to exercise the rights and privileges taken for granted by others." But he said Thurmond worked to address black concerns and was a strong supporter of black colleges.

Another black political pioneer, state Sen. Kay Patterson, said Thurmond's early record on race is indefensible. But Patterson said he believes Thurmond had "a change of heart on the road to Damascus, like Paul. He woke up and saw the light."

We can’t know if Thurmond’s friendship with Biden was one of the factors that led him to change but we can know that Biden influenced him enough for him to ask Biden to eulogize him at his funeral — despite their strong differences.

Of course, all this doesn’t mean that he doesn’t see, recognize, and call people out for what they have done. As we already talked about, Biden hates a bully and he will call people out and hold them responsible for what they do.

But Biden sees the promise in people. He is genuinely kind. It is why Sanders has said that Biden is one of the few people in the Senate to treat him with respect before he became the beloved “Bernie.” It is why Obama calls him a brother. It is why Lindsey Graham said “If you can’t admire Joe Biden as a person, there is something wrong with you.” And why John McCain said “Joe Biden doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.”