Whilst a US presidential election is without question the biggest geopolitical show in town during any election year, few other campaigns in recent memory have captured the gaze of the world quite like 2020’s extravaganza.

For a time, coronavirus was knocked off its perch, if not forgotten, as the world watched on with amazement the spectacle of a rambunctious, testy election campaign that was every bit the bare-knuckle dog fight everyone expected it to be. Whilst the dust is yet to settle on a contest that is still being contested, Joe Biden has toppled the incumbent Donald Trump who, willingly or unwillingly, will step down from office on 20th January.

With the curtain set to fall on the Trump era, discussion has naturally turned to what the outcome of the election will mean for both the US domestically and the wider world. More specifically, the question on the lips of the world is just who is Joe Biden?

A President Committed To Civility And Decency

A telling moment occurred on the campaign trail in Georgia when President-elect Biden, upon visiting Warm Springs, borrowed from a famous speech written by the great Franklin D Roosevelt, reading:

“Today … we must cultivate the science of human relationships — the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and work together in the same world at peace, to live together and work together. That’s how I see America. That’s how I see the presidency, and that’s how I see the future.”

The list of staff, colleagues and rivals, past and present, who have hailed Biden as a man of civility and decency is a long one, and the genuine empathy that characterises him will shape the President-elect’s policy going forward.

An archetypal establishment man and political moderate, Joe Biden will prove to be the ying to Donald Trump’s yang – a President committed to trying to heal a divided nation at home, and to rebuilding burned bridges with allies and fellow liberal democracies alike on the international stage. Certainly, the disdain for democratic norms and divisive red meat populism that has been vogue in US government over the past four years will be replaced by more traditional business as usual-style rhetoric and leadership.

The decision to name California senator Kamala Harris as his vice president, whilst a shrewd move politically that appeals to his party’s enthusiastic progressive voter base, ties in with the Democrat’s determination to create a leadership team that is representative of the youth and diversity of a vast segment of US society.

All in all, the world can expect a welcome return of ordinary boring US politics and far fewer presidential tweets.

“Today … we must cultivate the science of human relationships — the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and work together in the same world at peace, to live together and work together. That’s how I see America. That’s how I see the presidency, and that’s how I see the future.”

The Phrase, Third Time Lucky, Is An Apt One

Whilst he might be best known and remembered outside the US as the former vice president of inimitable former President, Barack Obama, this is something of an injustice to the new President. Biden’s election win is the culmination of a long journey which first began in 1972 when, at 29, he became one of the youngest senators in history.

Mr. Biden is a true political heavyweight and veteran Washington insider who for five decades has served in public office at the highest level. Moreover, he didn’t achieve his childhood dream of becoming President the easy way. Joe Biden’s election 2020 election win is a case of third time lucky, following two earlier unsuccessful runs for office in 1988 and 2008.

Empathy Borne Of Tragedy

His warm, empathic demeanour is no act, rather, it is borne of and amplified by terrible tragedy that, first, saw him lose his wife and baby daughter in a car accident in 2972, and his eldest son Beau to a rare form of brain cancer in 2015. Such grief and loss is said, by longstanding friends, aides and former colleagues, to be at the core of the President-elect’s passion in pursuing causes such as the provision of accessible, affordable healthcare and a number of social justice issues.

That being said, Biden is no soft touch – there is a shrewd and hard-nosed dealmaker beneath his folksy exterior. The former six-term senator for Delaware is well-known for his conciliatory manner and commitment to achieving bipartisan consensus with colleagues from across the political spectrum. However, nobody lasts a half-century in the rough and tumble, pork barrel world of US politics through civility and smiles alone.

Biden can do old-fashioned politicking with the best of them, an attribute that be much needed if he is to make a success of his presidency in a socio-political landscape that has rarely been so viciously polarised as it is today.

An Executive-Style Leader Who Humanises Those Around Him

The now legendary story of New York Times security guard, Jacqueline Brittany, and her encounter with Biden provided a snapshot of the future US leader’s character during an off-script moment when the cameras were off and his PR team out of shot:

“I take powerful people up on my elevator all the time. When they get off, they go to their important meetings. Me, I just head back to the lobby. But in the short time I spent with Joe Biden I could tell he really saw me—that he actually cared; that my life meant something to him and I knew even when he went into his important meeting he’d take my story in there with him. That’s because Joe Biden has room in his heart for more than just himself.”

Whereas Barack Obama had a cool, detached leadership style, seeing the world around him and the people in it from 30,000ft. up, in the words of a former government official, Biden is the polar opposite. Granted, he is gaffe-prone, but the President-elect’s saving grace is that he is an open, engaging people-centric character who places great emphasis on connecting with everyone in the room, from heads of state to the man serving coffee.

In essence, Biden is a team player executive who leads democratically and values the work of the people who work for him – this is another key difference between the new President and the outgoing Trump, who is a classical superman/monarchical leader.

Amy Pope, a deputy homeland security advisor who worked with Biden during his time as vice president said of Biden, “you would come into a meeting with him and he would be on the phone with a Republican Senator wishing them a happy birthday. He’s just good at keeping on top of that kind of stuff. He knows if you have kids or grandkids.”

Additionally, she also described him as a ‘tough jurist’ - he wants and expects clear, informed answers and is not shy about pulling someone up if he believes that the information provided is sub-par or lacking. In such instances, he’ll tell someone to go back and start again in no uncertain terms:

“He feels if he is going to get up and argue for something, he wants to be convinced that you have persuaded him of the position.”

Of course, as with any President, the world will have to watch this space to see for certain what kind of US leader turns out to be. Time will show how consensus-driven, how decisive and how ruthless he will turn out to be. What is guaranteed is that the coming four years will look very different to the four years just gone.

“I take powerful people up on my elevator all the time. When they get off, they go to their important meetings. Me, I just head back to the lobby. But in the short time I spent with Joe Biden I could tell he really saw me—that he actually cared; that my life meant something to him and I knew even when he went into his important meeting he’d take my story in there with him. That’s because Joe Biden has room in his heart for more than just himself.”

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