Editor’s Note: Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, is a former US Senator from California and a former US Representative of California’s 6th District. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN.
As the United States faces multiple crises, Americans need a specific kind of leader – a forward-looking, empathetic one. After working with Joe Biden in Congress for several decades, I have no doubt that he not only meets, but exemplifies, these character traits.
He has proven himself to be a politician who cares about the pain of others and who deftly consoles those in need by encouraging them to dream of a better tomorrow. While Joe has demonstrated such concern on countless of occasions, I’ll share two instances that stand out in my memory.
When I was in the House of Representatives in 1994, a former colleague of mine, Illinois Rep. Marty Russo, had a terrifying health scare. His son, Tony, had been diagnosed with cancer. Distraught by the sudden news, Marty turned to Joe for counsel. Having lost his first wife and daughter in a car crash in the early 1970s, Joe was particularly adept at taking in someone else’s pain and then guiding them through it.
Joe certainly came through for our colleague, helping both he and his son navigate the long and arduous treatment and recovery process. For 30 days, Tony battled the disease from a hospital bed. And for 30 days, Joe called Tony and Marty to cheer them up and remind them that individually, and as a family, they would get through the worst of it.
After a long fight, and several months of recovery at home, Tony successfully beat cancer. All of us who witnessed Joe’s handling of this health crisis were struck by his kindness, compassion and, perhaps more importantly, his optimistic outlook that lifted everyone’s spirits during the hardest moments. And we weren’t the least bit surprised when two years later, in 1996, Tony asked Joe to officiate at his wedding. Joe, of course, obliged.
Joe knows how to do more than console – he knows how to help a person rebound and come back stronger than before. I got to experience this firsthand, when I served in the Senate with Joe.
Former Arizona Sen. John McCain and I had a complicated relationship. We were either legislative buddies or political enemies on any given day. And, on the day in question, as I recount in my memoir, we were more like enemies.
The Senate Commerce Committee, which John chaired at the time, was debating a new government rating system for movies. Until that point, the film industry had rated itself. Now John and members on both sides of the aisle were calling for government regulation.
I, however, disagreed with this bipartisan policy proposal, and so I went to testify before the committee about why I thought it was wrong. In making my point about how dangerously subjective a process this could be, I invoked the name of a member of Congress, who thought “Schindler’s List,” the famous Holocaust film, should have an X-rating because of shots of nudity in concentration camps. Meanwhile, I thought an R-rating was more than sufficient.
Outside the hearing, I went to thank John for allowing me the chance to testify. But he was furious about my testimony – and even more furious that I had mentioned the name of a member of Congress not present at the committee to defend himself. John then told me I would be banned from testifying before his committee ever again.
He was livid, but now so was I. As I left John, I prepared to go tell the press what had happened. But then Joe saw me. And though I was not crying or particularly expressive, he just knew something was wrong.
When I explained what had happened, he resolved to defuse the situation between John and me. He walked over to John and several minutes later walked back with a short note from John, in which John apologized for overreacting. After that, John and I would work on several major bills together – on issues ranging from veteran’s rights to women’s rights in the military.
While my brush with John may seem small in comparison to the challenges facing the United States today, Joe’s response to it illustrates just how he would tackle the public health crisis and economic uncertainty plaguing the country.
Unlike President Donald Trump, whose response to the death of over 150,000 Americans is, “It is what it is,” Joe is approaching his campaign – and the millions of voters – with his sleeves rolled up and his heart wide open. He is ready to help, and, most important, he is ready to chart a course whereby all Americans can rebound from these last four years, stronger than before.