Biden the Father vs. Biden the Institutionalist
The New York Times
A tension between parenthood and politics has defined the Biden presidency.
On the day President Biden’s career in national politics began in 1973, he walked up to a lectern set up in a Delaware hospital room while holding his 3-year-old son, Hunter, in his arms. Both Hunter and his older brother Beau, who was lying in a hospital bed nearby, were recovering after being in a car accident that had killed their sister and mother weeks earlier.
Biden was there to take the oath to become a senator, a ceremony held at the hospital so his sons could be there. And, he suggested, if there was ever a “conflict between my being a good father and being a good senator,” he would step aside.
He never did, but a tension between parenthood and politics would come to define his presidency.
On Sunday, nearly 52 years after taking that oath and now nearing the end of his political career, he again held up Hunter, at least symbolically, pardoning his son for a decade of legal trouble that included federal convictions on gun and tax charges.
It was an extraordinary move that came after he and his press secretary repeatedly insisted he would not pardon his son. It seemed to upend Biden’s attempts to portray himself as an institutionalist. But it wasn’t a surprise to those who have observed his relationship with his son.
My colleague Katie Rogers is a White House correspondent who has written extensively about Biden and his family. We talked today about how Biden’s complex relationship with his son set the stage for a pardon that has drawn bipartisan condemnation. Our conversation was condensed and edited for clarity.
