This podcast will help explain much of what Biden does as President
In this podcast episode of “Vox Conversations” (re-branded from “The Ezra Klein Show” after Klein left Vox), Klein interviews Evan Osnos, a staff writer at the New Yorker and the author of Joe Biden: The Life, the Run, and What Matters Now. “President Biden has been in national politics for almost five decades. And so, people tend to understand the era of Joe Biden they encountered first — the centrist Senate dealmaker, or the overconfident foreign policy hand, or the meme-able vice president, or the grieving, grave father. But Biden, more so than most politicians, changes. And it’s how he changes, and why, that’s key to understanding his campaign, and his likely presidency.” (Vox Conversations)
These kinds of books are particularly illuminating for explaining why Presidents do what they do. When we’re later super angry or super happy with Biden, it would be smart to refer back this hour long podcast on the way Biden thinks about politics and policy making.
The embed code for these audio clips wasn’t supported on Medium, but each link, if you click on it, will take you to specific clips in the podcast (thanks listennotes.com for making it super easy!)
This first clip talks about’s Biden affinity for pluralism, or defined in the most wordy of ways: “[a philosophy that recognizes and affirms] diversity within a political body, which is seen to permit the peaceful coexistence of different interests, convictions, and lifestyles.” Put plainly, believing in compromise and working together, despite differences.
https://www.listennotes.com/clips/the-joe-biden-experience-0aXcgUrK68d/
The second clip is about Obama the technocrat vs. Biden the people person and relationship builder and negotiator.
https://www.listennotes.com/clips/the-joe-biden-experience-rbzemuv1AXo/
The third clip talks even more about how Biden approaches political friends and enemies:
https://www.listennotes.com/clips/the-joe-biden-experience-Jr3S-L5YhnZ/
The fourth clip talks about how Biden was able to consolidate a party that seemed to have so so many differences, particularly his relationship with Bernie Sanders and personal relationships:
https://www.listennotes.com/clips/the-joe-biden-experience-OkG4uiWQxyo/
The whole episode is super interesting if you’re a political nerd like me, or if you just want a better, and non-contentious view of our current President.
