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I guess its now or never for this one. In November 2015 I was a photojournalist assigned to cover VP Biden speaking to a group of Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy. The discussion was about sexual assault. /1
I hadn't ever thought much about Biden. I vaguely remembered something about plagiarisim, I thought The Onion pieces about him waxing his Trans Am at the White House were funny. That was about it. /2
Seemed like an ok enough politician, but still, just that. A politician. I'd seen enough of politicians to understand the game. /3
I was the only media there, or one of the only. It was a big room, but maybe only 20 people or so. Mids, some officers, Secret Service, some aides, the VP. /4
I wasn't expecting much, not in a critical way, just in a "Well what's he going to do, this is a little deal, he'll probably say the right things and take some photos w the Mids and then jet". Which would have been fine. /5
He did more then that. /6
He sat down and started slowly, quitely, talking about sexual assault. About what it does to women. About what it does to a man, what it makes him, to have hurt a woman. /7
He got up and started walking the room, around the Mids. He was looking at them, speaking to them. Not to me, not to the camera. To them. /8
He was angry. The very concept of it was making him angry. He had contempt for perpetrators of sexual assault. Contempt is not something you feel from politicians. They perform it as needed, but you don't often feel it. /9
And he had empathy for the victims of sexual assault. Again, you see politicians perform empathy. He was showing it. To a small group of young people. And it struck me, he was trying to reach them. Maybe just one of them. /10
Again, small ball, there was no need to do it. No big headlines, the local paper covering, no political advantage to the meeting at all. If anything, a bit of a risk. Something could have been taken out of context, used against him. /11
He finished, collected himself, went back to doing the part. Which was fine, that's the gig. But I wondered, why would he do that? And why had I believed it? I'd believed politicians only to literally covered their perp walks. I don't think I'm that naive anymore. /12
I believed it because I think it was true. He meant it. He had a chance to deliver a message of justice and decency to some college kids and he took it. He just did it because it was the right thing to do. /13
And I remember thinking, man, that guy should show up more. He'd be a good president. -30-
