[Music] I've decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation behind President Biden's fateful decision he thought that he'd be able to power through it but many leaders within the party thought differently it is a stunning and historic development through years of interviews culmination of a half century in public life the very last decision he would make would be to surrender of course that's painful now on front line Biden's decision it's been this roller coaster of days the president United States who is under enormous pressure to drop his bid for a second term ends up being sick and has to isolate he has covid he disembarks from the plane he takes a couple steps and then he just stops inexplicably for no reason it seems like and he looks over to the right where there's nobody [Music] there and he just looks halting unsteady uncertain and you saw the lowest point in some ways of his presidency any response [Music] toor he disappears into the presidential limousine and that's the last time anybody sees Joe Biden for 6 days he was self-isolating for health reasons but politically he was incredibly isolated because there were mounting calls for him Tove out of the race people were wondering is this the end of Joe Biden's political career people were looking at that imagery they were looking at the days ahead the weekend that was coming up as a pivotal moment in determining whether or not Biden would be able to remain as the leader of the democratic ticket sick and on the political ropes President Joe Biden faced a critical decision he was getting the message from lawmakers on Capitol Hill who were saying if you don't make a decision this weekend we are going to come out and mass and say that we have lost confidence in you it would be one of the toughest of his life there was no more room for error he decided whether or not he was going to step down as as a candidate was there one more comeback there for him to mount for Joe Biden it was a pivotal moment in a lifetime marked by ambition tragedy and determination you can't understand Joe Biden without understanding the insecurities at the core of his being those insecurities that are born out of the stud are born out of the bullying the the diesel fuel that keeps pushing him forward an automobile accident killed the wife and baby daughter of Biden of Delaware he went from being on top of the world to being a young widower a father of two children and a man with a broken heart hello everybody when he was accused of plagiarism we felt that his character was being attacked and it sort of took us back when you get knocked down you get back out you cannot understand Joe Biden without understanding everything that came before which is an entire lifetime spent proving to people that he can do the things that they believe he cannot [Music] the roots of Joe Biden's enduring willpower Trace back to a bygone ERA this is the Delaware story it is an outstanding example of what free people in a free country can accomplish when he talks about the world that he wants to see for the country when he talks about the Dignity of work when he talks about middleclass communities he's really going back to something that had existed in his youth the fathers and mothers in our hometown are just plain nice living folks a kind you read about in story books you know Main Street folks who say hello nice [Music] morning we built it with civic pride and remain proud of its dignity and friendly tollable characters [Music] the family moved to Wilmington when Biden was about 10 and the neighborhood was you know this is um Irish Catholic pretty much um working [Music] class my brother Joe is the eldest of all of us you know we were normal kids we were you know we raised hell uh we got into trouble but once we walked outside our home we were [Music] Biden and we we had to stick together and loyalty was tantam out we took care of each other they have a very strong sense of a clannish identity we bidens is an idea you'll hear Val his sister use that term and Joe Biden uses that term Mom and Dad told us that the most important thing in life was [Music] family my father was not a man of many words my mother was the one who was the the talker in the family but when he spoke to us I mean we all perked up my dad my dad didn't have to say twice to us what he was thinking or what he wanted us to do Mom stayed at home Dad um sold [Music] cars Joe Biden's self-presentation is that he is a man who comes out of the working class full stop but actually the real story is richer it's more complicated and interesting which is of course that his father had money at one point his father grew up with money my dad grew up well Polished by gentlemanly Pursuits he would ride to the hounds drive fast fly airplanes he knew good clothes fine horses the newest dance steps his father had little emblems of wealth Left Behind like a polo Mallet in the coat closet and he had photographs of himself next to a private plane and things like that and then they lost it all and as a result there was this sense of almost like a phantom limb he'd been knocked down hard as a young man lost something he knew he could never get back when you listen to Joe Biden the thing that matters to him most is the sense of dignity because he saw in his own father's life and in his own family the scars that are left when you experience that kind of that kind of precipitous drop in security the precipitous drop and status that his family experienced that value of each person's dignity I can see that as a pretty straight line from Mr Biden to Joe because he didn't think his own dignity had always been honored the way it should be there's a story that Joe Biden writes about his father and how they go to a Christmas party and the owner of of the dealership at some point in that Christmas party tosses out a bucket full of silver dollars onto the floor his father was struck by all of these people scrounging around on the floor for these silver dollars and and so his father and protest quits immediately it was supposed to be a kind of fun activity but Joe Biden's father found it [Music] humiliating Joe Biden has always had a chip on his shoulder and that's something that he inherited from his father his father was always alert to the risk of being humiliated for not having as much status or influence or power or education or money as anybody else the world doesn't owe you a living Joey he used to say he had no time for self-pity failure would happen in everyone's life but giving up was [Music] unforgivable my dad would say it's not how often you get knocked down it's how quickly you get back up get up that was his phrase and it has echoed through my life you're lying in bed feeling sorry for yourself get up bad grade get up kids make fun of you because you stutter Biden get up little Joey had a stutter hope to P teach PE well my P is very strict [Music] when you're [Music] young it instantly makes you a target for bullies you're immediately not like any of the other [Music] kids people feel free to make fun of Stu utterers it it was uh it was it was difficult for my brother he has talked frequently about the shame he felt and the anger he felt uh when his peers made fun of him for his stutter and even his teachers the nuns who taught him he had an assignment he had to memorize he had to stand up and deliver it in the classroom the words were in front of him Sir Walter Ry was a gentleman when Joe read it it went Sir Walter Raley was a gentle man say that again Sir Walter Raleigh was a gentle man this went on three times he said gentle man instead of gentlemen the nun looked at him and said Master Biden do you need your classmates to tell you how to say that it was so embarrassing and so enraging that Biden walked out of the room he walked out of the school he walked all the way home Joey's mom Jean marched him back to the school to confront his teacher Mrs Biden was a very warm gracious person but then she had this Steely backbone if challenged like if somebody did something to one of her kids for example I think the the steel came out the sister starts telling how disrespectful Joe's and my mother stop she said just tell me did you make fun of my son well I sister did you make fun of my son well and my mother said well I'll answer it for you you sure in hell did and if you ever ever ever do that again I'm going to come back and I'm going to knock your Bonnet right off your head do do we understand each other that was a very strong pugilistic strain in the family there was a a very strong sense that was imparted to the kids that you will never allow yourself to be diminished by somebody else he was not going to let a bully Define him he just knew he stuttered and he was going to do something about it his decision was emblematic for how he'd face the many challenges to come Biden would stand in front of his bedroom mirror holding a flashlight to his face and he would recite Yates in Emerson he was determined to eventually be a person who could give beaches [Music] those insecurities that are born out of the bullying born out of the stutter born out of his father's fall from social Mobility those are the things that keep propelling him they're the diesel fuel that keeps pushing him forward at a pretty young age Joe Biden awakened to the power of his own will the will to recite these poems in front of the mirror to beat the stutter which seemed like this assignment from God you know this this sense that he had been given this body that was frail and he got through it with this act of devotion in a sense this Devotion to himself and I think it seated in him this belief that he could through an act of will he could get himself to places that other people didn't think he could [Music] [Music] in 8th grade in Catholic schools February was vocation month the priests or the nuns would come into our classroom and talk about the vocation of becoming a nun when the vocation of be coming a priest Joe was very taken by it and I remember his coming home to Mom and Dad and he saying you know uh I I might want to be I think I might want to become a priest the church imposed a sense of ritual a sense of hierarchy a sense of being part of something larger than yourself all of these were really this essential piece of what it meant to be a Biden Biden sees in the insecurities of his youth kids making fun of him his father messing up in business he has a craving for security and he finds it in these institutions that are permanent uh the church in its thousands of years of of ritual that if you master you can build a career for yourself a reputation and a security for your self your family your community and that to him was enormously [Music] appealing for a lot of boys growing up in that culture you know this is what you look up to it's What what you aspire to to have the priest in the family it's a real honor for the family when you become a priest you get all the prestige and you get the social status and you get the the spiritual status and so Joe said maybe you know I'm I'm thinking about priesthood at that time the young boys went from 8th grade they went into the Seminary at 9th grade and my mom said well it's wonderful if you want to be a priest but there's no way in hell you're going at ninth grade you go to high school you go to college and when you get out and if you want to be a priest you have my blessing but you're not going in ninth grade you're too little to make that decision it was in high school that Joe discovered another calling when he was in high school John F Kennedy became the president Senator John F Kennedy the youngest man ever voted into the White House Mr Kennedy is also the first Catholic chief executive in the history of the country and all of a sudden an Irish Catholic the first Irish Catholic to reach the White House became this enormous symbol for Biden and not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country the election of JFK was such a moment most if not all Democrats of his generation really uh were invested in uh the Kennedy story the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans JFK had talked about the torch being passed to a new generation by War and Biden wants to be the guy picking up the torch he certainly pursues status and he certainly wants to be a person of consequence in fact he went to the library and started looking up Kennedy's background to figure out how did this person become president what does it take to get there now the son of a car salesman the bullied kid with a stutter decided to aim impossibly high pursued John F Kennedy's path into politics Kennedy was a young Senator Biden set his sights on the Senate Jack had a picture perfect wife and Joe would find a picture perfect wife neia when he first meets his wife he tells tells her he wants to be a young Senator and then he wants to be president he had that ambition very early on which does tie in with John F Kennedy it's not until he's 78 that he actually becomes president but this striving for something big and be president of the United States is something that Biden has from a from the youngest of Ages he spent more time than almost anyone in American history thinking about and running for president Senator Robert Francis Kennedy died today June 6 1968 If This Were an actual campaign train Senator Kennedy would be on the platform of the last car today that's where his casket rests that terrible Caravan of death of John F Kennedy and then of course so close together Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King has a very profound effect on Biden now the car bearing Senator Kennedy is passing by this Biden talks very movingly about standing there to watch the train carrying Robert Kennedy's body JFK had talked about the torch being passed to a new generation well you know now the torch has being dropped it has to be picked up Joe Biden wants to be the guy who will be the new Irish Catholic politician picking up the torch he called me into his office and he said to me I want you to help me I want to run for office and I said well what do you want to run for and he said the United States Senator I said you're crazy he said will you help me I said sure I'll help you I mean it was considered a Fool's errand unseating a popular incumbent to win a US senate seat at age 29 Joe Biden asked me about getting involved in his campaign I started off by telling him that there's no way you can win kale bogs was the candidate for the Senate he'd been a two-term congressman two-term uh Governor two-term Senator he's beloved around the state bogs was seen to be Invincible I mean he had he had won like 29 straight years of elections in different elections but he really believed in himself he really believed that he could be bogs he was really positioning himself to be an alternative to an older generation that had come before much the way that JFK had done that the fact that I'm young and uh and uh the fact that uh I still have some of my hair and uh and my family was involved and I have a very uh I think very appealing family uh you said in many ways he modeled his own candidacy after the cides he and neilia would go out with the kids they were all part of the operation and it was it was an amazing Tableau Joe and nilia had built a family Bo Hunter and Naomi politics is so much of a family Enterprise for the bidens in a way that it was too for the Kennedy family but his family doesn't have the political connections or the financial connections that the Kennedy family had just about the only people who thought he could win were Joe Biden and his family I was the campaign manager we and the Biden we had no money we had no power or influence we didn't know anybody who was a big name who could help us thank you very much but we had Joe thank you right we'll see you Hi how are you my name there are extroverts and then there are Joe Biden really appreciate thank you thank you very much he is a person who lives to interact with people he's a born politician you get him in front of a rope line you get him you get him in a place where he gets to shake hands he comes [Music] alive some people are in politics because they're in love with policy but they're not necessarily in love with humans the phrase the common touch is kind of an old one but it was very around when Joe Biden started out and he had it Joe Biden loves the game of it he loves the dance of it he loves meeting people he loves hugging strangers he always made an incredible impression on people I remember we did a poll and something like half the people in the state thought they had met him personally which was absolutely totally completely impossible that's how he won in Delaware two-term Republican Caleb bogs whipped by 29-year-old Joseph Biden he literally won by personal contact with people all across the state I mean the world literally changed overnight no one expected it including a lot of the people in the campaign it was just a sense of of the the The Impossible had been accomplished all of you have done something something that the political pundit said there was no way in the world it could be done he had gotten where he was through sheer will and Charisma and as far as he was concerned those were the most powerful ingredients in politics what that taught him was that if you can envelop people in a sense of who you are and just make them feel something that that is a more effective political tool than having every policy detail at your disposal this is the honest God truth I can remember as it was clear as today standing in that crowd I was thinking I will never ever again believe that anything's impossible and I've looked at races for the last 50 years almost 50 years and I've never no one's ever come to me with a race that was as impossible to win as this race to Joe Biden it was yet more proof he could decide to do the impossible the need to perform to prove the doubters wrong it's deep down within him that has been a part of him forever and it is very much a part of how he thinks about proving the doubters wrong even now at the age of 81 the youngest new face in the US Senate next year will be that of democrat Joseph Biden of Delaware so young in fact that at the time of his election on November 7th Biden was not yet old enough to serve I could hardly wait to be 30 the constitutionally required age for entering the [Music] Senate we threw a big party 2 and A2 weeks after the election birthday there was a cake and neia and I cut it together standing over it like we did our wedding cake except that bow and Hunt were there for the first 29 years of his life after having solved the problem of the stutter Joe Biden had almost a kind of blessed existence he discovered that okay life's pretty good to me I was a United state senator elect at age 30 neia and I had done this amazing thing together and there was so much more we would do the doors were just beginning to swing open on the rest of our [Music] lives I spent a good bit of time with Joe I was assigned to do a a long long piece on him something like you know young Mr Biden Goes to Washington I rode on the train with him to Washington one day and he was very excited and he was almost like a little kid and in fact he was saying you know hey there're all going to think I'm a paig here [Music] just bubbling with excitement kind of on top of the world and I had lunch with neia she was very pretty and quite intelligent good company um Charming you know easy to talk to I just thought to myself you know God this couple really has everything [Music] he was in his office in Washington they're just getting set up at that point he's with his sister and some members of his staff neilia was at home with the kids taking care of the kids in Wilmington and the phone rings and Val gets it Biden is sort of paying attention then he really starts paying attention when he sees her face and I got a call from Jimmy [Music] Biden and uh said come home now there's been an accident and uh neoya was in the car the station wagon with the three children bow hunt and Naomi and uh she had gotten the Christmas tree and she was on her way home [Music] she was hit broadside by a tractor trailer and she and Naomi who sat behind her in the car seat uh they died instantly and B and Hunter were seriously injured and my brother looked at me and said um she's dead isn't she and I said um I don't know Joey I did know Jimmy told me I could not speak only felt this hollow core grow in my chest like I was going to be sucked inside a black hole in six short weeks he went from being on top of the world to being a young widower a father of two children and uh a single dad and uh a man with you know a broken heart the minute I got to the hospital I knew the worst had [Music] happened the boys were both alive but Bo had a lot of broken bones and Hunt had head [Music] injuries I don't think Joe was ever young again after that uh just it was kind of it just shattered you know all these thoughts of this nice young couple and the life they were going to have and uh I don't think I ever wound up finishing that story I was working on it just changed everything and in a terrible way he becomes more like the kennedies than anybody would ever [Music] wish this fate that seems to drag on the success story of the kennedies you know in the worst possible way it it inserts itself into Biden's life the pain cut through Like A Shard of broken glass I began to understand how despair LED people to just cash it in how suicide wasn't just an option but a rational option Joe Biden has a crisis of faith in the most profound sorts of ways he cannot believe in a benevolent God after having his wife and daughter taken from him there's a crisis of Faith about his own destiny and his own place in the world he's on the cusp of being the youngest Senator and he feels as if this is not the thing for him to do he was angry he was really angry I mean there was a almost a physical sense of Agony and rage about it he and his brother used to go out at night and go look for people to get in fights with I just felt rage absolute rage anger I mean just didn't make sense and I could not understand that he's not even sure what to do he's not sure he can even be a senator anymore who am I what what do I do here he just considers giving up in his darkest moment he returned to the Biden motto get up the Legacy that neia left me was the ability to draw strength from what she was and not weakness from her no longer being sudden death out of the blue seems to say the universe has no meaning life has no meaning and so you can look to the things that are available to him to try to insert meaning back in and one is politics since the accident he's been living at a hospital in Wilmington Delaware taking care of his sons today the Senate sent an official to the hospital to swear him in Biden had requested that he take his senatorial oath in the hospital so that his children could be with [Music] him can you make a speech too sure you can make a speech I want to well go ahead and make one then do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States so help you guard I do congratulations Senator thank you after the crash he needed something to comfort him he needed something to envelop himself in he needed a place to be a part of that would sustain him and give give him a sense of purpose and give him a sense uh of [Music] achievement and the Senate gave Biden a sense of belonging Biden's instinct is to envelop himself in institutions the Senate would Define Biden and shape his life here's a guy who had grown up within the church which is defined by this sense of ritual and ancient tradition things that are worth preserving because they provide order in a disordered world and he gets to the Senate at a moment of tremendous chaos in his own life having suffered this terrible loss and all of a sudden the rituals of the Senate and the kind of clarifying effect of being a part of this institution almost feels to him like an extension of these values and patterns that had made so much sense to to him and his family as a young person so the Senate became a sort of standin for the church for him [Music] Joe Biden has this ritual where every day he's getting on the train taking it to Washington Union Station and at night he's going back home to be with his boys it's so poignant because there was so much guilt that was associated with his relationship with these two boys because he was constantly having to leave [Music] them and even when he was returning late at night it was often after they were already asleep there is such a bond with Joe and the boys Joe made them better and they made Joe better but at night time when you close the door he was still alone and a widower and a single dad these three guys had been through hell together and when Jill came you know they hit the jackpot in terms of they had Mommy lost mommy they got Mom and they they hit the jackpot with Joel and they knew it she was a gift she made M of the whole she was a gift to the entire family he fell in love with her very quickly and uh she fell in love with my brother and mostly she fell in love with the boys I saw my brother come alive again I saw him smile I saw him get up in the morning and you know the world's the always I mean I'm taking on the [Music] world when I was dating Joe Jim and Frankie took me out to dinner they wanted to let me know that the family plan was that Joe would someday be president and so they were letting me in on this and kind of warning me that if I was going to marry him that this was part of the plan and I listened and I was uh it was kind of surreal but I sort of brushed it off because it just didn't seem possible at that moment know fine Biden has always wanted to be a player in presidential politics he's always been someone who's thought about running wanted to run a longtime Biden Confidant once told me that fish swim birds fly and Joe Biden runs for president thank you very 1987 would be his first shot at the presidency it was a family affair the boys had grown up and he and Jill had a daughter Ashley he wants to prove himself if you spend your childhood mocked and ridiculed for a stutter if you feel like your family has taken a downward turn because your father's career and finances have collapsed you want to prove yourself so yeah he'll run for President in 1987 as a young young man Biden is gambling that his politics of passion will impress the voters more than the issue politics practiced by most of his Democratic Rivals Biden is running in the ideological Center often criticized for a lack of substance in his speeches that's always been one of his challenges he casts about for what he wants to say he casts about for the issues he wants to put forward W and what he wants to say he believes in and it and it feels cast about he's searching for messages and rhetoric that connects and so he finds speeches that are emotionally powerful he hears them and he incorporates them into his own sense of self why am I the first kinck in a thousand generations to be able to get the university why is the ad was riveting I couldn't take my eyes off Neil kinck was it because they were weak those people who could wait work eight hours underground and then come up and play football weak he takes bits of speeches from the British labor leader kinok and he kind of uses them pretty much for B why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university has UND Joe Biden borrowed it and applied it to his own life and made a moving sort of ARA a moving sort of part of a speech about his own life which in fact had been taken from Neil K is it because they didn't work hard my ancestors who worked in the coal mines in northeast Pennsylvania and come up after 12 hours and play football for 4 hours Joe Biden as a political performer was in habiting the role only a little too well I mean he absorbed this story into his own and of course it was not his own story I hope you'll consider me thank you very much and that concludes the economics for American Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Biden today faces the controversy seem to be claiming kinnick's vision and life as his own Biden said that he often quoted kinck with attribution what I should have said I should have said to paraphrase Neil kinnick it kicked off an entire study of how much of Joe Biden was real and how much of it was taken and absorbed and patched together for a second time in two weeks senator Joseph Biden he looks like a Joe Biden windup doll with somebody else's words coming out when he was accused of plagiarism we felt that you know his character was being attacked and it sort of took us back one from John Kennedy's inaugural others from Robert Kennedy their words from the lips of Joe Biden cannot measure the health of our children the health of our children the quality of our education the quality of their education the joy of their play or the joy of their Play This Moment attacks Biden on the very issue that he's most sensitive about which is being accepted and feeling like he belongs and and like he has achieved great things in his life and and like that should be respected anything that kind of gets through the thick skin really hits a raw nerve for himor I have one real quick question what law school did you attend and where did you place in that class and the other question is could you quickly I I think we all I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do I suspect I went to law school on a full academic scholarship he he comes alive in some way when he's when he's pissed you know he he seems more like a real person you know he he's he's he's this he's suddenly this kind of little kid who feels he has to really stand up for himself against the bullies the only one in my in my class to have a full academic scholarship and in fact ended up in the top half of my class and I'd be delighted to sit down and compare my IQ to yours if you'd like Frank one that's the insecurity talking and it's always there lurking just below the surface he has this acute sensitivity to anybody looking down on him Syracuse University law school records show he sought a partial not full scholarship for financial not academic reasons that he finished not in the top half but 76th out of 85 students I look at his ambition and Joe Biden is just he wants to grab you by the leels to tell you damn it I am smart damn it I am a great man in history and clearly there is this drive that's born out of this scarring experience of his father taking this downward tumble that because of his stammer he was bullied as a kid that creates this desire to assert himself to assert his dignity to assert his place in the world I felt it was so unfair what happened to him the one thing that Joe prided himself on was you know was his honesty and his integrity and now it was being attacked and he had to pull out of the race hello everybody delightful to see you all here you know my wife Jill it was an agonizing decision standing down at least for the moment United States I can remember so clearly getting out of the race I didn't think oh we'll do it again I thought um I'm telling you it was really um scarring I guess would be a good word the exaggerated shadow of those mistakes has begun to obscure the essence of my candidacy and the essence of Joe Biden Joe Biden just looked at the cameras and you could just hear all the cameras clicking she just had this Blank Stare in her face I think she developed sort of a a long-term mistrust of of the press as a result of that race that definitely stealed her and made her a much more guarded political spouse going forward thanks folks my wife and I thank you very much and Tommy thank you there's still scars from that campaign today that they carry with them aware senator Joseph Biden dropped out of the hunt Joe Biden blames mostly himself for blowing it Delaware Senator said he was a victim of his own [Music] [Music] mistakes I believe as some people are beginning to and we have a glimmering of an opportunity to change the way in which we but we do know one thing the Middle East and the Persian golf will Joe Biden was pretty chastened and embarrassed by the 1988 aborted Run for the presidency he doesn't want to ever be accused of being an artificial plastic politician again I'm the second ranking member of the Foreign Relations he doesn't want anybody to ever question his smartness ever again principle he would rebuild himself in the Senate becoming a leading figure on the Foreign Relations Committee Nat deepening his bipartisan credentials and chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee Senate hearings began on the Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas he's conservative and outspoken critic of affirmative action former head of the equal employment opportunity commission see Judge Thomas now with the chairman of the Judiciary Committee just a few years after his failed run for President Joe Biden was again in the spotlight overseeing a high-profile Supreme Court confirmation hearing there's chairman Joseph Biden and I think he's just about ready to get the proceedings underway the hearing will come to order good morning judge welcome to the blinding [Music] for Biden the Clarence Thomas hearings were a chance to shine it was the national stage national television and he was the face of the Senate and so as an institutionalist Biden sees this as a moment for him and the Senate to show how America can work best heck you 6 seven years younger than I'm 48 how old are you judge 42 3 well I've aged over the last 10 weeks but uh 43 43 years old because of you're youth judge but before long Biden had a crisis on his hands this affidavit contained allegations that Thomas sexually harassed a former employee Anita Hill good evening we begin tonight with the potential for political explosion on Capitol Hill Clarence Thomas ran into trouble today questions are growing over charges of sexual harassment against Thomas the FBI did indeed interview Anita Hill a former subordinate of Thomas's trouble today for Clarence Thomas enough trouble that some senators are calling for a postponement of this week's confirmation vote but committee chairman Biden conceded tonight that new with the pressure mounting Biden decided to allow Anita Hill to her allegations how far away she the hearing will come to order welcome Professor Hill Professor do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth to help you God I do thank you it struck me as you know something's wrong with this picture this is you know you you see the the panel of of white men and you wonder if Anita Hill is getting a fair shake it seems to have been a nightmare for Joe Biden as a man he felt uncomfortable about it as a white man he felt uncomfortable about it Professor the whole subject matter just made him incredibly uncomfortable can you tell the committee what was the most embarrassing [Music] of all the incidences that you have alleged I think the one that was the most embarrassing was his discussion of of pornography involving these women with large breasts and and engaged in variety of sex with different people or animals that was the thing that embarrassed me the most and made me feel the most [Music] humiliated Biden had no idea what to do with this particular situation he could have done something to provide her with some support some comfort but that didn't happen Angela Wright also worked with Clarence Thomas there were actually three other women other than myself who were willing to testify who had actually said they called Senator Biden's office and and offered their own testimony Wright offered her own Stark allegations which Thomas denied he asked me in one situation what size breast my breasts were he told me he wanted to date me this is a man who has all who in my opinion has often spoken inappropriately to women let me now yield to my friend from Pennsylvania uh Senor Spectre thank you Mr chairman Senator Biden allowed members of that committee to grill Professor Hill in a way that was inappropriate and humiliating I find the references to the alleged sexual harassment not only unbelievable but Preposterous how reliable is your testimony in October of 1991 on events that occurred 8 10 years ago there was a question of whether or not Joe Biden could have done more to protect Anita Hill to defend her to speak up for her and in the context of a sexual harassment charge Joe Biden didn't use his platform as a leader of that committee to stand up for Anita Hill to say that he believed her Joe Biden is a member of this fraternity a member of this old boy society that is the US Senate he is somebody who looks at his fellow Senators who looks at the likes of ARL Spectre of course he's going to uh be deferential to them he's not going to want to have an adversarial relationship with them you testified that the most embarrassing question involved this is not too bad women's large breast that's the word we use all the time that was the most embarrassing aspect of what Judge Thomas said to you that moment was the limitations of his capacity for empathy Joe Biden drew the perimeter of his world of his life as members of the United States Senate but that perimeter did not extend at that point to the women who were accusing Clarence Thomas of doing terrible things is the intention of the chair to have uh uh Judge Thomas Back In fairness to him he should have an opportunity tonight and not Biden gave Clarence Thomas the last word a chance he'd use to deny the allegations this is a circus it's a National Disgrace and from my standpoint as a black American as far as I'm concerned it is a high tech lynching for Upp blacks by a committee of the US US Senate rather than hung from a tree the term high-tech lynching really put a number of the Democratic senators on their heels they saw the racial overtones of that statement they saw how uh Clarence Thomas was going on offense a lot of the Senators just did not want to have to deal with this with that Biden moved to wrap up the hearings Angela Wright and the other women accusing Tomas would not testify Joe Biden was so determined to try to satisfy everybody in that moment that he ended up satisfying [Music] nobody he's kind of in the middle of the road I'm a southern woman and I've always heard that the only thing in the middle of the road is roadkill and yellow stripes and then you have to take a position and you have to decide what you stand for Biden ended up voting against Thomas but the Anita Hill hearing would be a stain on his reputation a 98% male US Senate which many say almost slipped Anita Hill's allegations under the rug Senator Biden allowed them to ask her very difficult questions indeed the Senate's botched handling of the Thomas nomination is just one more black [Music] mark January of 07 yes are you running for president I am running for president are you filing Biden running again just seems like some sort of crazily persistent delusion you know you've tried this before it hasn't worked why the hell are you still going you know it's not going to work this time is is anybody in 2005 2006 thinking what the country really needs is Joe Biden you know apart from Joe Biden I'm going to be Joe Biden I'm going to try to be the best Biden I can be if I can I got a shot if I can I lose but his campaign quickly started to unravel on National Television it sure isn't running for president these days this was not a good day for Joe Biden was it no it really wasn't just got into the race today and no sooner than he did he talked his way into a national controversy he spent much of the day discussing these comments he made to a newspaper reporter about Senator Barack Obama I mean you got the first sort of mainstream africanamerican yeah who is Artic and bright and and and clean and a nice looking guy I mean it's that's a story book man some people listening to those descriptions of Obama articulate clean heard racial overtones or at the very least condescension I think when people heard the clean and articulate line there was a wave of eye rolling certainly among African-Americans it was the kind of well-intentioned but bited commentary that you expect from people who inhabit environments where there aren't very many black people and the United States Senate has historically been a prime example of that tonight his campaign is doing damage control there goes Joe Biden running his mouth one more time how humiliating to be hoist on this this dumb aside that he makes about Barack Obama Joe Biden's apologizing for a remark he made about Senator Barack Obama and of course that's going to be the thing that does him in it's totally completely humiliating the latest news is that Joe Biden is dropping out of the race Joe Biden is dropping nobody's paying attention to Joe Biden it is humiliating from the Brash young upstart candidate of 1987 now he's the picture of the establishment that nobody wants anymore [Music] it really did seem like that might be the end he had run for president twice it hadn't worked and then the most unlikely thing happened which is Barack Obama the person who he had offended early on in this race decided actually he needed Joe Biden in his candidacy President Obama believes that diversity is a strength and that the country was absorbing a lot picking their first black president and so having someone who had years of experience in the Senate someone who had vast experience in foreign affairs I think he thought they made a good team he accepts the vice presidency because Barack Obama genuinely seems to need Joe Biden and there's a way in which it flatters Joe Biden's ego to feel like he's needed and Joe Biden always wants to feel essential indispensable Barack Obama is projected to be the next president Senator Barack Obama of Illinois will be the next two decades after he'd first run Joe Biden was closer to the presidency than ever Biden's life has been full of these almost miraculous turns Biden gets to be part of an operation that was not just making history but it was cool I mean this was a group led by Obama and Michelle Obama who felt like they were laying the path to a new form of politics a more inclusive pathbreaking politics and Biden got to be a part of that in many ways Obama provided a form of redemption for Joe Biden there was a lot of skepticism about Joe Biden among black voters they were remembering the Anita Hill hearings he had this image as a good old boy someone from an earlier era someone who grew up during segregation the fact that the first black president had appointed him to be his vice president really did a lot for Joe Biden for his standing in the black community [Applause] [Music] his political career may have rebounded but being vice president wasn't the job he'd been chasing all those years I mean it is a second class job by definition it doesn't hold a lot of authority and you're there just in case to be in the white house as second fiddle was frustrating yeah had been chairman of the Judiciary Committee chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee senior in about everything he's done well that's very that's very big that's powerful and to give that up for a number two spot that you really can't do anything significant without getting the president your boss is okay and approval sure there had to be an adjustment there you know I look at Biden sometimes ending sometimes I think I see when the camera he believes has turned away from him and is no longer still on him you get a sense of the sadness his face falls into some considerable anguish to make matters worse the president made jokes at Biden's expense all this change hasn't been easy so I've cut the tension by bringing a new friend to to the White House he's warm he's cuddly loyal enthusiastic you just have to keep him on a tight leash every every once in a while he goes charging off in the wrong direction and gets himself into trouble but uh enough about Joe Biden there was this tendency that Barack Obama had to make Joe Biden the punchline of his Jokes which then gave perion to everybody else in the room to roll their eyes at Joe Biden and so it was this death spiral for Joe Biden where he just kept tumbling down the status order Biden was already mid-60s close to 70 when he was vice president there were some young staffers who would you know they look at him as the old kind of crazy Uncle Joe and it pains him because it goes back to who he was as a child when he was made fun of like it was frustrating to him to be thought of as just Uncle Joe and he brings the issue to Obama and he sits down with him at lunch says listen you know you can't be talking about me that way because it will diminish me and I will be less valuable to you and Obama took that to heart Joe stayed focused on who he was what he was doing and the relationship he had with the president that's probably what got him through all that the relationship grew I think it grew over time it grew through adversity Joe Biden had a very consequential vice presidency I mean he was given special projects that were extremely important in the moment Biden did the parts of the White House job that Obama didn't really want to have to do Obama never wanted to set foot in Congress again if he could avoid it Biden on the other hand loved it you know he kept his gym membership at the Senate gym because he liked to go back there and schmoo with people in the Senate Vice President Biden to this day enjoys relationships on both sides of the aisle he knew that he could call them and they would take his call and that he could go and thrash issues out with them the real question isn't what thing did you do if you're vice president the real question is how much influence on the president and the national policy coming out of the executive branch did the vice president have then I think Biden had uh as much influence as any modern vice president maybe with the exception of Dick Cheney I think he was a very influential vice president and an extremely loyal vice president there's been an uncommon bond between my boys and I that is different than anything that I've ever experienced in my life I truly enjoy being Bo Biden is the apple of Biden's eye he was not just someone who he thought was brilliant and successful and just so proud of him was it went beyond Pride it was almost like he's the perfect version of me ultimately the distinguishing feature about Bo is how steady he is he's carried this one sense a heavier burden than my other children but my God he's not only carried he's shouldered it Bo Biden was the literal extension of Joe Biden's aspirations in politics the Assumption within the family was this idea of becoming the Kennedy 2.0 and Bo Biden is the future he is the one who is going to carry the torch he's already finding the campaign trail eating up all of his family time so his family travels with him that's his son Bo who was along tonight this is my son bo b me you big Mike meet my Guy this is Bo hi Joe Biden really used to say about Bo that Bo Biden had all of my good qualities and none of my bad qualities how you Bishop nice to meet you my honor meet my son Bo Young [Music] Man Bo Biden was someone he wanted to see become president of the United States he was ready to do everything possible to help Bo Rob in American Life Bo had a very informative childhood you know being around his father since he was in grade school you're around people um that are interesting I mean you are very up to speed at a young age and and you know what's happened in the world what's happened domestically what's happened internationally jph if you thought that Joe Biden could be President Biden no question Bo Biden could have been President Biden no question they had the same skill sets Bo was his father's child in that he was a public servant he was the attorney general that went to serve an Iraq she wants you guys know this guy this my son my number one and was on his way running for governor there's no question but he sees Bo as his [Music] successor undoubtedly the death of Bo's mother Biden's first wife makes that even more [Music] necessary both surviving that car crash you know being the kid who emerges literally from the wreckage you know feels like there's a kind kind of destiny that that terrible terrible moment will be somehow balanced out in the future by the swearing in of President Bo you [Music] know my dad is Joe Biden a few years ago but Bo's Destiny would be denied he's the father I've always known the grand grandfather he was sick my children love and adore and his father knew it great honor to place into nomination my father my hero Joe Biden Joe Biden as a democratic vice presidential candidate Bo Biden was dying of brain [Applause] cancer but it was what cannot be seen for what can be seen is temporary but what cannot be seen is eternal May the peace of God the Creator Redeemer and sustainer Surround each of you as we begin this time of thankfulness for Bose's life asking God to Grant peace for today and Hope For Tomorrow amen I saw most clearly uh how he felt about Bose's death at the wake that was supposed to be a wake from 2: to 4: and 6: to 8 and I went of course at about 2:00 and the vice president was [Music] there he stood like Granite for 6 hours at the [Music] coffin and uh the sense you had [Music] was this was my boy um and I think probably if there is a heaven God wept in heaven with him I happened to be in Obama's White House and Biden walked in and I honestly it was almost like I didn't recognize him this was shortly after Bo died he just looked like he had aged years and years in such a short amount of time people detected incredibly noticeably these dramatic changes within Joe Biden they noticed physical changes in Joe Biden that this guy who had been really vigorous was starting to age rapidly in front of them he was no longer the gregarious guy trying to monopolize the air time he would recede in meetings it's just impossible to imagine how you deal with this terrible terrible moments of grief again it faces Biden with this choice you know this is what we keep coming up with Biden you know this he's faced with choices nobody would want to make and and so again he either does the thing that I think most of us would do at that stage which is just say I'm done or you somehow find some way of saying well I still have to make sense of this I still have to inject some kind of meaning into all of this cruel tragedy that life has inflicted on me and the only meaning for 50- year politician you know is the presidency which has always been in his mind but now it becomes almost not just a kind of political career it it becomes a personal salvation as he had before in moments of tragedy he returned to the Biden motto get up and his abiding political ambition but it hinged on the support of President Obama they were together for eight years for two terms President Obama gave the eulogy at BO Biden's funeral here you are working for someone for almost 8 years you have this person's back for 8 years and now you're looking to them to support you and you find out they're supporting someone else Hillary Hillary Hillary Obama wouldn't instead support Hillary Clinton thank you so much what Obama is saying is well in your condition with all the stuff you've suffered you really shouldn't be pulling yourself through a presidential campaign Obama was sort of using B's death as a way to excuse his own betrayal of Biden but that's a that's a pretty harsh cruel thing to do Biden would be forced to do it again to stand down good morning folks please please sit down uh Mr President uh thank you for Lending me the Rose Garden for a minute it's pretty nice place unfortunately I believe we're out of time the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination but while I will not be a candidate I will not be silent he had been in the senate for 36 years he had been vice president for eight and knowing that he'd run twice already for the presidency and didn't make it there was a very strong feeling in Washington that he was putting a period on the end of his political career and merely by the example of our power he really does seem at that moment like a tragic figure in an almost Greek sense you know someone whom the gods have chosen to pile these miseries on you know everything kind of moves together to to uh just blow up somebody's life and somebody's sense of themselves and that's what seems to be happening to SP another that time both his public and to some extent his private lives are over matter but I'm telling you we can do so much more and I'm looking forward to continue to work with this man to get it done thank thank you all very much [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Joe Biden watched as the Trump presidency Royal America Joe Biden like any number of people in the Democratic party sees the true crisis of American democracy in the Trump presidency Mayhem in Charlottesville but you also had people that were very fine people on both sides Russian collusion give me a break president Trump now facing outrage after firing Comey I did you a great favor when I fired this guy I think they were regrets about not running in 16 I think he believed he he uh he could have and would have beaten uh president Trump whatever regrets there were whatever sense of oh I should have done it maybe things would be different I really think the driving force was the profoundly dangerous Direction the country was headed in chaos confusion and anger growing in the wake of President Trump's immigration ban president Trump turning up the political heat with tweets critics are calling racist and xenophobic Biden looked at Trump and saw the antithesis of so much that Biden had tried to be in politics what he's trying to do is make America hate again at one point today the president asking what good is NATO Biden was somebody who had tried to be reverential of the institutions the idea of compromise these were things that he considered Hallowed Ground and here's this guy coming along who is desecrating a lot of the values that Biden thought were dignifying values of politics for only the third time in American history the House of Representatives has voted to impeach a president Donald Trump now Biden would try yet again for the presidency the ironies can't be lost on anyone here he is now he's going to run against a guy who people call the biggest bully there is Joe Biden the guy who can't stand bullies who spent his life defending others from bullies it's almost like a Greek play now here you are at the end of your life and the one last move is to defeat the bully BL Philadelphia he was 76 years old thank you thank you thank you in Philadelphia Joe Biden had his kickoff rally of his campaign and you'll see at the end you know all of the grandchildren are there and they come on stage Ashley comes on stage Jill comes on stage but hunter does not you know he's off on a drug Bender at the moment Hunter Biden is in perhaps the deepest despair of his life he's disappearing for long stretches and his father doesn't know where he is as with any family with a family member who is going through some sort of substance abuse it's super hard to watch your child descend into these kinds of behaviors and it's no different when you're a politician like Joe Biden was versus a regular average American D call tell you I love you I love you more than the whole world pal got to get some help I don't know what to do I know you don't either but I'm here no matter what you need no matter what you need I love [Music] you Joe Biden wants to be as emotionally supportive as he can with with hunter from Joe Biden's perspective this is his only surviving son there's a lot of raw emotions I think between the two of them Biden's decision to run put hunter in the spotlight [Music] at the end of the day the family realized that the fight that they had was a bigger fight they thought that he was uniquely positioned to defeat Donald Trump his children and his grandchildren gathered together and said we know we're going to take some bullets we know that we're going to be negatively impacted by a nasty campaign but we're ready for it and you should jump in this race by the way whatever happened to Hunter where the hell is he [Applause] where's Hunter hey fellas I have an idea for a new t-shirt I love the cups but let's do another t-shirt where's Hunter where is generally in politics there is a Unwritten rule that family members are typically off limits because you know children don't ask for this [Applause] president Trump saw Hunter Biden and the troubles that he was in as a way to get under Joe Biden's skin to Rattle him to try to throw him off his game you know to hurt him to inflict to inflict pain basically and I resent talking about you talking about H I'm talking of my son Bo Biden you're talking I don't know Bo I know Hunter Hunter got thrown Hunter got thrown out of the military he was thrown out dishonorably discharged that's not truee use and he didn't have a job until you became vice president once you president he made a fortune in Ukraine in China in Moscow various other places he made a fortune my son and he didn't have a job my son like a lot of people like a lot of people we know at home had a drug problem he's overtaken it he's he's he's fixed it he's worked on it and I'm proud of him why the thing that I think is probably most painful for Joe Biden is the knowledge that his son would not be subjected to all of this public scrutiny were it not for his own political career and his own political Ambitions and if you're Joe Biden you definitely feel some sort of responsibility and guilt and culpability for what your son's being subjected to the deadly Corona virus officially hitting the us at least 12 confirmed cases right here in the United States in the midst of the campaign Co a tragic turn in the Corona virus outbreak the first death from the disease here in the United States you had a nation that was reeling from covid in which people were quite literally grieving for members of their family empty streets lead to packed emergency rooms across New York City paralysis in this typically vibrant City in just a matter of weeks and grieving for the direction of the country under Trump what do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared I say that you're a terrible reporter that's what I say I think it's a very nasty question and I think it's a very bad signal that you're putting out to the American people the American people are looking for answers and they're looking it was this moment that Biden found that all of this language and philosophical preparation that he'd spent all these years investing in about how to survive and how to grieve all of a sudden it became politically relevant politics was as much about grief and Recovery as it was about any policy idea he's someone who can empathize he's someone who who understands the impact that tragedy and and Trauma can have on an individual or on a family as we were going through a period in our country where collectively so many people were experiencing loss what is on the ballot here is the character of this country decency honor respect treating people with dignity and I'm going to make sure you get that you haven't been getting it the last 4 years Joe Biden was so laser focused on what we had to do for the American people and how we had to communicate with them during that time of Crisis he chose to be the stable leader and voice the American people Biden's promise to the public was I'm going to return things to something more recognizable in politics it might be a little boring at times in fact he almost explicitly promised to take up less space in people's minds you know he kind of said I I don't really think that politics needs to be this all-encompassing Inferno that that it kind of consumes us all and finally after a lifetime of striving it worked the Fox News decision desk can now project that former Vice President Joe Biden will win Pennsylvania and Nevada he is President elect Joseph robinet Biden become the 46th president of the United States I Joseph robinet Biden Jr do solemnly swear there is this very deep sense that this is why I'm here this this is what all this horrible pain is about this is what all this difficulty is about this is all the slights I've had to endure all the ways in which I've been underestimated and mistreated through life all of these absurdities that have been piled on me um through through death and illness um well okay this is this is it you know I'm here now and there's something that matters not just to me but to America and the [Music] world our nation's capital under a state of emergency under a Citywide lockdown the chaos here has shaken the US capital and the country because of January 6th there are barbwire and military vehicles in the streets and soldiers surrounding the capital it looks like an encampment tens of thousands of Police federal agents and National Guard troops on the streets for Biden it's not the moment of personal Triumph that he I think might have imagined because the country is in such Dire Straits at this point he's inheriting one of the most uncertain periods in our modern history you have a raging epidemic that has yet to be conquered you have an economy that has just collapsed overnight you have schools that are closed and businesses that are closed it felt like the whole thing was just really on edge there were no crowds on the streets cheering like you've seen in so many images and videos of of previous inaugurations it was just an eerie feeling how are you feeling after Joe Biden is finally sworn in as president you know he's finally gotten this thing that he's wanted his whole life he couldn't really celebrate there were no parties there were no inaugural balls because of Co it was super [Music] weird he came down from the residence on the West Colony towards the Oval Office and I remember looking him and saying this is just this is an incredible thing to see after all this time uh that he is coming into the overall office president the United States so I felt a lot of excitement and a lot of anxiety about the fact we were going to now start to do a lot of work we knew we were walking into a pandemic an economy that was reeling so there was a crisis management aspect certainly of the first year felt that when you come in as president especially at the moment he did he needed to be a Healer part of Biden's promise to the public was I'm going to show you that government can actually work again that's what my Decades of experience will deliver we can show that Washington will work and we can put practical things in people's hands like stimulus checks the first batch of stimulus payments will start going out to Americans in need this weekend the president declaring that help is here he gets trillions of dollars in new spending passed by Congress these are the priorities that the Biden Administration have said they want to get done $ 1.9 trillion covid stimulus relief package to help Americans struggling throughout this pandemic he's able to push people to get something done on the American Rescue plan then on infrastructure the president is poised to sign into law the largest Federal investment in infrastructure in Generations it will have transformative impacts on middle class it will be huge for Legacy works for months to try to get build back better revived Democrats will continue to fight for build back better the ultimate test of the president's legislative power as the bill is in the hands of the Senate he's trying to get so much done and he does get a lot done so the domestic front Biden has an FDR like first year this is the most successful legislative presidency can surely be credited to the fact that Joe Biden had more legislative experience than any president in history but during that first year one decision would tarnish his presidency I'm now the fourth United States president to preside over American true presence in Afghanistan I will not pass this responsibility onto a fifth Biden was hellbent on withdrawing he did not come into this with a with an open mind necessarily to uh to any other options he was held B on getting out in this withdrawal in Afghanistan do you see any parallels between this withdraw and what happened in Vietnam with some people feeling none whatsoever zero the Taliban is not the South the North Vietnamese Army they're not remotely comparable in terms of capability there's going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of a Embassy in the of the United States black smoke seen rising from the US Embassy the chaos directly contradicting any talk of an orderly evacuation process 20 years of American and NATO Le gains collapsing in stunning [Music] fashion as the Taliban are approaching Cabo it becomes clear that the Afghan forces that we have trained are are vacating their posts and are not going to stand and fight outside the last remaining US base at Cobell airport chaos [Music] [Music] continues the images that come out of that withdrawal is one of hastiness it really becomes a moment for for Biden that undermines uh a lot of the things that he ran on which was calm steady and and competent truth is this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated I stand squarely behind my decision the president was very confident that his decision was the right [Music] one he took no blame for any of that what the aftermath that we saw at Cobell International Airport time is running out US troops are scrambling to fly Americans and allies out of the [Music] country an explosion a large explosion outside of the ABY gate at the Cabell Airport chaos and Carnage as back-to-back Bomb Blast tore through packed crowds at the airport it is the deadliest attack on US forces in Afghanistan in a decade 13 US service members killed in this attack and this will have to be a big moment for his presidency this day remember this day the very rationale that had driven him to pull out the risks to Americans all of a sudden that had had in the worst possible way had had come to pass Joe B went to do air base for the dignified transfer of the bodies and he met with the families and as we all know he's nobody's better than Joe Biden at consoling the bereaved um he always talks about [Music] B and in this case he was confronted by several family members who were livid inconsolable shouting at him they're like this isn't about your son this is about my son this is about our kids this is about what happened to them for him this moment where his empathy is usually a strength it doesn't really work in the way it had for him in the past Mark you met with Biden over the weekend how did that go uh it it didn't go well um he talked a bit more about his own son that we did my son and that that didn't sit well with me we as family members at do when we were there to uh receive our children's bodies that was the worst day of all of our lives and to sit there and have him talk to us about B was the biggest insult and his response was I thought I was helping them that's really where it genuinely came from and for someone who's lost as much as he has to H to have the reaction that it wasn't helping them I think is especially um heart-wrenching and as those families and friends grieved the president of the United States stood there checking his watch it was a scene that those families will never be able to forget and they hav't well I stood there on the tarmac watching you check your watch over and over again all I wanted to do was shout out it's 30 ass Mr Biden has run his entire political campaign for 50 years as the family man well I've got news for you sir the curtain has been lifting and that campaign slogan will never work again it was the one moment in the course of the entire withdrawal from Afghanistan where he was second guessing himself he second guessed himself about his interactions with these grieving parents and I think it haunted [Music] him there's a brand new poll out uh Joe Biden is so far underwater right now a majority of Americans disapprove of his uh job performance he is supposed to be the firm leader who's going to take away the chaos what was more chaotic than that American withdrawal out of Afghanistan it changed public perception of Biden in a way that he was never able to recover from Afghanistan was just the beginning for Joe Biden it would be crisis after crisis nearly 60% of Voters think Biden's policies are making the economy worse Housing Shelter food medical cost all Rising the big question now when will prices start dropping and that has some Americans losing patience with the Biden Administration it felt like there was something new every day you know that's part of working in the white house at all times but it seemed particularly acute then and we just had to keep working on them inflation in the United States has jumped 7% that number is Sky High we haven't seen inflation run that hot in this country since 1982 suddenly the candidate who promised normaly and calm becomes a president of a period of volatility and uncertainty millions of Americans are simply being priced out of home ownership with the interest rates going up they are stuck now to a key campaign issue the Border crisis this is not another headache the White House wants to deal with if you add Afghanistan to what's happened at the border and inflation it feels like things are kind of out of our control then you have Russia invading Ukraine in the Gaza War the Russian assault has begun Russian President Vladimir Putin's war machine is now carving a path of Destruction the world for reasons that have nothing to do with Joe Biden is on fire the Middle East inflames Israel has formally declared war Hamas has launched a surprise attack within Israel's borders overnight and so much of his presidency has been about dousing those fires and all of that firefighting may be um may be extremely heroic but you're not going to get credit for firefighting at the end meanwhile he's facing the lowest poll numbers of his presidency people will just remember the fact that the world felt out of control in that moment Americans have lost their confidence in President Biden and their optimism for the country the way he saw it he's doing things and trying to help people and legitimately helping people the president had signed several pieces of legislation but the Goodwill that he wants them to feel toward him is just not there a shocking 71% say we're on the wrong track and that includes a near majority of Democrats who are saying that the administ ation kept saying that when voters start to pay attention the polls will turn around things will look better but they've been saying that for a while and it's just not showing up in the polling a new poll found more Americans trust former president Donald Trump than Biden to fix the economy he probably is the most impactful president of my lifetime in passing legislation he's just got to get out and sell it on my watch instead of instr week America is having infrastructure decad Biden does go out and try to win people over but he does it with less and less capacity to make a persuasive speech over a billion 300 million trillion 300 million America is a nation that can be defined in a single word I was in the foo him foot excuse me his voice gets softer his voice gets more raspy at and remote making sure that the third world the excuse me third world the uh the the uh the southern hemisphere his physical presence seems to diminish with every passing month and so his ability to go out and sell his message uh really seems to decline over the course of his years in office a top concern his age more Americans than not say Biden is too old for a second term every member of the Biden cabinet should be asked when are they going to start thinking about the 25th Amendment he has what I would call a very healthy chip on his shoulder in the sense that he always feels underestimated not always but often your commander-in-chief you're probably the most powerful person in the world people are still underestimating you he has one of the most accomplished legislative records if anyone has ever served in the job still underestimated 2third of Americans in exit poll say that they don't think you should run for free election what is your message to them and how does that factor into your final decision about whether or not to run for re-election it doesn't what's your message to them to those two watch me he has decided that he can beat Trump he has the experience of having done it once and he's convinced he's going to do it again this is the CNN presidential debate having decided to run again at age 81 Joe Biden would now have to prove he was up to the challenge the stakes were very high because he was losing and he needed to turn the race around and it was supposed to be his opportunity to showcase his forcefulness and his ability to take the fight to Donald Trump now please welcome the 46th president of the United States hat Joe Biden as soon as he walked out I thought this won't be good he looked very pale he wasn't smiling the way I thought he would making sure that we're able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I've been able to do with the uh with with the co excuse me with um dealing with with everything we have to do with uh look if we finally beat Medicare President Joe Biden's poor performance halting and stumbling at times Biden's debate performance was so bad that he managed to make Donald Trump actually look good Americans saw something that concerned them that shocked them but they also saw something that confirmed suspicions that they already had he's an older candidate no one's going to deny that that was an unmated disaster for President Biden from the second he walked out based on that in 18 weeks Donald Trump will be the president-elect people thought that his mental decline was very much more advanced than people had been able to see because of the way that he had been kept behind closed doors kept on a teleprompter kept on script and so Americans saw a politician who was not only having a bad night but was in the decline of his political career a panic inside the Democratic party right now several op-eds calling for Joe Biden to bow out of the race there's been some real damage done that cannot be [Music] undone folks I don't walk as easy as I used to I don't speak as smoothly as I used to I don't de debate as well as I used to but I know what I do know I know how to tell the truth for as long as Biden has been around he's been contending with this question in one form or another does this man have the capacity to do it and it's a version of the same question he was asked as a child when he was stuttering is this guy smart enough Joe Biden's life story certainly as he narrates it is one of adversity and resilience he gets knocked down he gets back [Music] up whether it's being a child with a stutter who is mocked in school whether it be the great tragedy of his young life when his wife and daughter are killed in a car accident whether it be his political career when he Flames out on two previous presidential campaigns every single time as he sees his life he gets back up I know how to do this job I know how to get things done I know like millions of Americans know when you get knocked down you get back up [Music] but now the ultimate decision to go against the Biden motto stand down for good and not get back up there's a lot of fights that you can have in politics but you could never win the fight against time he was not going to be getting younger his skills were not going to magically return he made this decision and he ultimately came to understand that he was going to be a one-term president my fellow Americans has been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years nowhere else on Earth could a kid with a Stutter from Modest Beginnings in Scranton Pensylvania Claymont Delaware one day sit behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office as president of the United States but here I am he knew this is the end of a half century in public life and that the very last decision he would make in that sense would be to surrender I've decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation I made my choice now the choice is up to you the American people [Music] [Music] w for more on this and other Frontline programs visit our website at pbs.org [Music] Frontline front lines Biden's decision is available on Amazon Prime video w [Music]