GRAND Magazine - November/December 2008 - 43

The Bidens added to their family in 1981 with the birth of their daughter, Ashley. In 1988, the Champ was knocked down once again. This time Biden had to have life-threatening brain surgery to remove two aneurysms. Without the surgery, the ballooning arteries could tear without warning, leaking blood and causing a paralyzing stroke. Once again, Beau and Hunter were facing the prospect of losing a parent. “My sons were trying to be upbeat when they came to my bedside. ‘You’re two great young men,’ I told them—they were 19 and 18 years old— ‘and I’m so proud of you, so I know you’ll live up to your obligations. I know you’ll take great care of your mother and your sister. I love you guys.’ I was at peace, then, because I knew I had lived up their expectations; in what mattered most to me, being a father, I had been the kind of man I wanted to be.” The kind of man he wants to be as vice president, Biden told GRAND, can only happen if the Obama administration can accomplish two major goals. “The first thing we’ve got to do is restore the middle class. We have to create jobs, provide affordable healthcare, and make education a top priority so that our kids can compete globally. The second thing we need to do—equally important to our children and grandchildren—is restore America’s reputation in the world. A major part of that is ending the war in Iraq—responsibly.” Ask Biden to describe his grandchildren and he has a simple answer. “Jill and I are blessed with five wonderful, beautiful grandchildren. They call me Pop and they call Jill, Nana.” Of one granddaughter, Finnegan (named after Biden’s maternal grandfather), he says, “She’s going to have to grow up to be tall, very smart and beautiful because that’s quite a name to carry. So far, she carries it very well.” Biden says Finnegan “was the one who pushed the hardest for me to be vice president. When I asked her what she thought I should do, she said, ‘I think you should do it…It would be really cool, and you and Barack Obama will make a difference.’” Hunter, his only grandson, he says is nicknamed “the Prince.” “If you noticed,” says Biden, “at the convention I couldn’t get him off the stage.” Naomi, who was Biden’s first grandchild, was named after his deceased daughter. Biden says, “Granddaughters are the best. They always love their Pop no matter what. It doesn’t matter. I was in the mall with Naomi—she’s 15— and she said, ‘Pop, can we hold hands?’ I thought, Wow. Imagine that.” Visitors to the Biden home say it’s common to see Pop Joe on the floor playing with his grandkids. He says they all visit for all the holidays and at least 15 other times during the year. He admits he and Jill have a fully stocked playroom in their home. He calls it “grandchildren bait.” “A perfect day with my grandkids is over at my house in Delaware—swimming in our pool, reading books and relaxing all together.” Now, change is at hand. Joe and Jill Biden will have to create “grandchildren bait” in their new Washington home in the Vice President’s Residence at the Naval Observatory. The bait will include a new dog. “I’ve always wanted a dog. When I was running for president, Jill said, ‘Nobody is home to take care of a dog, but if you win, we’ll be in the White House and can get one.’ We weren’t even thinking about the Vice President’s Residence. Then, when I was being vetted as vice president, Jill said, ‘I’ll make you a deal. Get elected and you’ll get your dog.’ Biden says, dog or no dog, it won’t be difficult to make the adjustment and reel in the grandchildren for frequent visits to his new home. “Finnegan let me know that the distance between her house and the Naval Observatory is 1 mile and 5 tenths. Her little sister Maisey said, ‘Yeah, and it’s got a swimming pool, too!’” Now, that’s change the Bidens can believe in. G Jill joins Biden and his sons, Beau and Hunter, on a family outing not long after they started dating. Sen. Biden with his sons in 1972 after the loss of his first wife, Neilia. NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2008 GRAND 43

GRAND Magazine - November/December 2008

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