A Lesson from Joe Biden

I am reading Promise Me, Dad, Joe Biden’s memoir of a year when he struggled to lead the U.S. response to international issues in Latin America, Ukraine, Iraq and elsewhere and decide whether or not to run for the Presidency in 2016, all the while suffering the pain of his son Beau’s fight against terminal brain cancer.  It is an amazing book by an amazing, if often under-appreciated leader.

At one point, Biden gives us a look at his own political philosophy:

My old friend Tip O’Neill, the twentieth century’s most colorful and successful Speaker of the House, famously said, ‘All politics is local.’  I’ve been around long enough to improve on that statement.  I believe all politics is personal, because at the bottom, politics depends on trust, and unless you can establish a personal relationship, it’s awfully hard to build trust.  This is especially true in foreign policy, because people from different countries often know little about one another, and have little shared history and experience.  I have spent countless hours trying to build trust across those divides, and I have always followed my father’s advice:  Never tell a man what his interests are.  Be straight and open with him about your own interests.  And try to put yourself in his shoes.  Try to understand his hopes and his limitations, and never insist that he do something you know he cannot.  It’s really just about making the effort to make a personal connection.

It is a perspective on leadership in a democracy that we need to keep in mind as the mid-term election approaches.