Promise Me, Dad

"The title Promise Me, Dad comes from one of the last conversations the Vice President had with his son, before he passed. The promise that Beau asked from his dad was not about running for office; it was about staying engaged in making the country a better place, because Beau knew that public service is what keeps Joe Biden ticking. Promise Me, Dad is about how Joe Biden coped with his son’s decline while continuing his role as one of the most active and effective Vice Presidents in America’s history. It’s written in the near present tense and it gives you a really good sense of the person. In 2009, the Obama-Biden administration took over at a time of horrible economic circumstances, which we now refer to as the Great Recession. At the urging of Obama and Biden, Congress passed the American Recovery and Restoration Act. President Obama asked Vice President Biden to oversee its implementation and gave him the nickname ‘Sheriff Joe,’ which entailed two jobs. One, to make sure that the programs in the bill—for instance, programs to kickstart the creation of a green economy—got implemented quickly so that the money that was supposed to get out to people was received quickly. His other job was to make sure that the money didn’t get wasted. The Vice President set up mechanisms so that taxpayers could see where their tax dollars were going, in real time, through recovery.gov. He policed the process. If there was a program that wasn’t getting going, he’d light a fire under the responsible party to get it started. He was on the phone with governors and mayors every day. “Joe Biden has what he would describe as a very Irish soul” One incident, written up in a wonderful book called The New New Deal , tells the story of Vice President Biden seeing a Republican Senator from Kansas critiquing how the Recovery Act was working in his state on CSPAN. The VP got the Secretary of Transportation on the phone right away to fix it. The Senator went out the next day and said Joe Biden did what was responsible and I appreciate it. So, he was called ‘Sheriff Joe’ because he was on top of things and even-handed in ensuring the general good."

"This is Joe Biden ‘s first memoir, probably there will be others. It’s perhaps not as substantial a memoir as he may write later. He published Promise Me, Dad in 2017 and it’s more or less a memoir about his time as vice president at the time of his son Beau’s death. It’s a moving, personal story delivered with empathy. I think right now people are very interested in Joe Biden. That’s why I put it on the list—if you want to know a little bit more about not just his own personal tragedy and how he felt and his reflections on that, but also about his time in the US Senate and as vice president. It’s also interesting listening to this now and thinking about whether what he said he wanted to do then is something that he can actually implement as president. What is going to happen in the term that’s just starting? Yes. It’s bit like Obama’s Audacity of Hope , or Dreams From My Father . Both of those are shorter. Just like Biden’s book, the scope of time was limited—they’re not about an entire presidency or an entire life. Right. Whatever they’re telling, it seems that it’s probably for a purpose in their political career."