This is historic. No matter what your political beliefs, no matter who you voted for, this is a time for all Americans to stand back and watch, awestruck, as the seemingly impossible has actually, really happened. As an American I can’t help but be choked up by the amazing sight at Grant Park, Illinois on election night, a sight I never thought I’d see in my lifetime.
Joe Biden has been elected vice president of the United States.
Say it aloud! There was a time when such a thing would be unthinkable, laughable. But, there it is — Joe Biden, a white American male, is our new vice president. As a white American male, my chest is filled with pride. For only the 44th (45th?) time in American history, one of our own will be walking the halls of the White House!
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My son is twelve years old. He was sound asleep late last Tuesday night when John McCain conceded, and Joe Biden officially became our 45th or 46th (47th?) vice president of the United States. “Wake up, son!”, I cried as I burst into his room. “What? Huh? What?” he replied. “It’s happened,” I screamed, “it’s actually, really happened! Joe Biden is our new vice president!” My son blinked a few times, uncomprehending. “Why are you waking me up?” he asked, with the innocence and naïveté that can only come from a youthful lack of perspective on the incredible historic significance of Joe Biden’s election, “I have to go to school tomorrow.”
That’s right, son. You have to go to school. You have to go to school and study hard so someday you too could actually have the opportunity to be vice president of the United States, like Joe Biden. I have to admit, at that moment, I got choked up at the thought. My son, like Joe Biden, is a white American male. If Joe Biden can become only the 45th (46th? 47th?) white, American male to ascend to the vice presidency, than so could my son! Or me! Or the guy who lives next door to me! Or my accountant! Or the guy who sold me my Subaru, who has a cracked tooth and talks with a lisp!
Think of it! Now, when foreign leaders come to America to meet with the President of the United States, as they enter the oval office, who will be hovering in the hallway, trying to casually look like he just happened to be passing by and, hey, maybe he could come in too and just kind of sit in the back and promise not to say anything? Vice President Joe Biden, a white, American male. “Who’s the white guy?”, they’ll ask. “Hmm?” President Obama will reply, “That’s our vice president — Joe Biden.” You know what those foreign leaders will think? “America — what a country!”
As I watched Joe Biden take that stage in Grant Park, beaming, triumphant, waving his arms to the crowd in that Bidenesque way of his, I felt I was part of history. I felt like I too was there, in Grant Park, with Joe Biden (I was actually at home, in my pajamas, not with Joe Biden). As I looked out at that sea of white American males, some unabashedly teary eyed, cheering Joe on, I thought to myself, “You did it Joe! You did it for all of us! You sat in the front of the bus, then got off the bus, then got on that Amtrak train and you took that Amtrak train straight to the vice presidency!”
Yes, he can. Yes, who can? Joe Biden can, that’s who can! And, he did!
— Dave Konig is a 3time Emmy Award winning comedian. www.davekonig.com
