Public Service and Joe Biden

A Good Man Shows Us All How It's Done

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life but the life in your years.”

I’ve seen this quote attributed to a number of historic figures, but at the moment, no one personifies it better than Joe Biden.

Yesterday’s announcement means he will serve just one term as President.

But he sure put a whole lot of life and a whole lot of service to this nation into that single term:

He defeated Donald Trump, and navigated our nation through the first attempted coup in our history.

He returned a sense of service, professionalism and common sense to government after Trump had turned it all upside down.

He lifted our economy out of a deep recession, fueling the strongest recovery in the world. His investments in Ohio and other states have been so meaningful, even Republicans who opposed them can’t help but take credit and celebrate them.

He picked up the pieces from a disastrous mismanagement of COVID and brought our frayed lives back to normal as much as anyone could have.

He made history in his appointments, ushering in a new era where the federal government and judiciary reflect America more than it ever has.

He forgave student loans, lifting younger generations who’ve been paying a heavy price for a broken system of funding education; and aggressively took on climate change.

He restored our reputation around the globe, re-forged trust with our allies and stood for democracy in Ukraine when it’s been under brutal attack.

And so much more.

As I said, that’s a lot of life and so much service in under four years. And he’s got months remaining to further cement that legacy.

A Lesson of Service

But his legacy is even bigger than all that progress.

Because over the course of those years, and yesterday in particular, Joe Biden also reminded us of a crucial principle—one that often feels on the verge of being lost.

The principle that, in the end, politics is supposed to be about service…to the public. To the nation. For the public good. The patriotic politics personified in Ohio by John and Annie Glenn.

In recent years, sadly, we have seen far too many counter-examples of this. We’ve watched a political scene too often dominated by anti-public service role models teaching all the wrong lessons—Trump being the worst of them, but no longer alone. (For those of you who watch TV, think of “House of Cards” characters replacing “West Wing” characters). Trump’s dark approach seems to have invited all the wrong people into politics and government—the Hawleys and the Vances and the Ramaswamys and the Stephen Millers and the Bernie Morenos, who think only of power, and will say and do anything to grab it.

And it’s taught the worst lessons to those who were already in office when this era started. Think of people like Frank LaRose or Jon Husted, who started out claiming to be moderate public servants who wanted to work across party lines, now contorting themselves into right-wing zealots on everything from women’s rights to democracy itself. Because that’s what they’re concluded they need to do to get ahead.

Think about it: once you’re changing everything you believe to get ahead, you’re not about service at all. But the opposite. You are warping the service to advance yourself.

And then there’s another errant lesson that has been taught in this era. MLK once said: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." But too many in the Trump era seem to have learned the opposite lesson—that quietly going along with horrible things is the better strategy for advancement than standing up for what is right. We’ve seen that far too much lately, from people who know better. And it’s played a big role in our nation moving in the wrong direction.

But against all of this stands the example set by Joe Biden.

Who reminded us that yes, politics can and must still be about public service. About getting important things done for people and communities and the nation. About lifting. About bringing folks together. About solving problems.

Joe Biden ran for those reasons, and stated them every step of the way.

He acted upon that service mindset every day as president.

And in a way very few in American history do, he acted upon again yesterday as well.

Because in politics, there are times where true service doesn’t align with self.

At those times, the true public servants still choose service and the good of the community and nation over self.

They put America first.

While others, of course, go with self. They choose what’s best for them (their standing, their next election, their financial benefit) over what they conclude to be right, and best for the nation. And lately, so many choosing self over service (such as not impeaching Trump when they had the chance, or endorsing him or his allies when they know better, or staying quiet when public honesty would make a difference) is why we still face such a threat to democracy still now.

But Biden….he chose service over self. When he ran. As he served.

And yesterday, when he reached the conclusion that the nation and our democracy would be better served if he did not run for a second term—despite his large victory in 2020 and incredibly strong record in office.

Now that is the highest form of public service. Patriotic public service that will be his legacy.

Unite

Folks, when we frame this election as the threat to freedom and democracy posed by Donald Trump and Project 2025, and we unite and rally to stop it in the coming months, I remain optimistic that we will prevail at all levels of the ballot. In fact, our pro-democracy army is as energized to unite and get to work as anytime in my lifetime.

We saw that yesterday as a wide coalition rapidly coalesced around Vice President Harris, including a number of others with presidential ambitions declaring their support for her. They put their own interests aside, knowing that unifying to defeat Trump, Vance and Project 2025 must be the top priority for all of us.

Again, that’s service over self.

In the Joe Biden mold.

Thank you, Joe, for showing the way.