DNA Exclusive: How 'Middle Class' Joe Biden's image of family man helped him win US presidential election

In DNA on Monday, Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary analyses Joe Biden's political journey to become the elected President of the US.

Democrat Joe Biden has become the elected President of the US and now he will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on January 20, 2021. 77-year-old Biden's political career spans over five decades. He became a US MP for the first time in the year 1973 and has been elected President of America after a long wait.

Born on November 20, 1942, Biden's full name is Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. and is the eldest of four siblings. He is also sometimes called Middle Class Joe because like Donald Trump he was born not in a rich family but in a middle-class family and often struggled to meet his needs.

Whatever happened in his life, this time Biden mentioned it several times in his election rallies and by doing so, he has carved out his image as a good-hearted, middle-class leader who values ​​family. In the US, many families have been shattered during this period of pandemic and the pain of many people is similar to his.

When Biden was 10-year-old, his family shifted to Delaware. He stuttered badly as a child and because of this, the children studying with him in school used to harass him. But despite this, he studied political science and history from the University of Delaware. While studying in college when he was vacationing in the Bahamas, he met his first wife Neilia Hunter.

Biden came into politics at the age of 25 and at the age of 29, he contested the Senate election. However, after that there was an unfortunate incident in his life and on December 18, 1972, he lost his wife and 13-month-old daughter in a car accident. His sons--Beu and Hunter were also badly injured in the accident. But despite this, Joe Biden contested the Senate and won. On January 5, 1973, he was sworn in as Delaware MP from the hospital bed. Then both his sons were also hospitalized with him.

Today some people criticize Joe Biden for saying that he is too old for the presidency. But when he first became MP, he was one of the few leaders to achieve this position at such a young age.

After losing his wife in a car accident, he wanted to spend more and more time with his sons and so they decided not to go to the US capital Washington DC. He travelled 179 kilometres from Wilmington in Delaware to Washington via train daily and he continued to travel on the same route with the same train for thirty years.

The result was that the railway workers working on this route became part of his family and Joe Biden often held a party for these people. For this reason, the railway station of Wilmington was named after him.

Joe Biden had been trying to become the President of the US for the last 33 years and in 2020, he became the presidential candidate for the third time. Earlier in 1987, he joined the race to become the President but after being accused of copying the speech of another leader he had to back down.

Even in 2007, he once again joined the race to become the President of the US but this time too he withdrew his candidature. He arrived at the White House with Barack Obama and became the 47th Vice President of the United States. Obama was a symbol of new generation and change but Biden tried to strike a balance between the new and the older generation, as he had both age and experience.

However, Biden's 47-year-old political career has not been free of controversy. In 1978, he supported a disputed law and in 2002 he voted in support of the Iraq War. However, this year he considered it his fault.

Biden is also called Creepy Joe. Creepy is said to be someone who misbehaves and Biden has been accused of abusing several women. In 1978, he was also accused of being apartheid. In 1994, he helped enact a law to curb crime, which was said to target blacks.

In 2015, Biden's elder son, Beau died of brain cancer. Beau was a rising star of American politics and it was believed that he might one day become the President of America.