Through a week in which Joe Biden’s re-election hopes seemed to crumble, Jill Biden has been at his side. At times, she’s appeared more than a resolute first lady, standing in as his compere, guide and primary political aide.
The president’s wife of 45 years – they met on a blind date, set up by Biden’s brother, in 1975 – may now hold the key to whether Biden accepts mounting pressure from Democrat party donors and abandons a faltering re-election bid or risks another debate with Donald Trump in September with even higher stakes.
For now, the bets are on him fighting on – and much of that comes down to Jill, who has emerged publicly as the power aside and not behind the throne. It was Jill who led her husband off the stage on Thursday night, and was heard to tell him, as a primary school teacher might, “Joe, you did such a great job! You answered every question, you knew all the facts!”
It was also Jill – professor of English – who introduced her husband at two rallies the following day and attempted to recast the debate fiasco as clash between her husband who had “told the truth,” and former president Trump who told “lie after lie after lie”.
At the opening of the Stonewall national monument visitor centre, marking the 1969 street rebellion that served as a catalyst for a generation of gay rights activism, she approached the debate’s aftermath head on.
“As Joe said earlier today, he’s not a young man. And after last night’s debate, he said, ‘You know, Jill, I don’t know what happened. I didn’t feel that great.’ And I said, ‘Look, Joe, we are not going to let 90 minutes define the four years that you’ve been president.’”
“What my husband does know how to do is tell the truth,” she continued. “When Joe gets knocked down, Joe gets back up, and that’s what we’re doing today.”
Read more at Theguardian.com
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