Biden VP Choice is Great for Genesee County

If you have been asleep for the past nine hours you are just waking up to this news:




Much will be written on Sen. Biden's foreign policy and national security credentials and how we can help the ticket with certain voting blocs. That really is only important to the national leaders of the party and the campaign.

Here in Genesee County, we are interested in how adding Sen. Biden to the Obama Campaign for Change will help our communities and how he will help us bring around those undecided voters who will ultimately decide this election.

First, Sen. Biden has a personal story that hopefully none of us will ever have to endure but that we can all empathize with. After winning his first of six terms in the Senate at the freakishly young age of 29 (He turned the constitutional minimum age of 30 prior to being sworn in) his bright personal story took a tragic detour. While driving with his family they were in a car accident. Senator Biden's young bride and his infant daughter were unfortunately killed. His two young sons were seriously injured.

Facing a new career in the Senate and an unspeakable family tragedy, then Senator-elect Biden gave careful thought to not entering into the Senate. He eventually did what many people here have done which is, he put his family first. He stayed with his sons in the hospital so much that he was actually sworn in as a US Senator at the hospital with his recovering sons. Facing a new challenge as a single dad of two sons, grieving the loss of his wife and daughter, and a brand new Senator he began a balancing act that many single parents here in Genesee County can relate too. Unlike most Senators who buy residences in DC, he stayed in Delaware to raise his young sons and took a ninety minute Amtrak train into the capital twice a day. This is a practice he has done for the past 36 years.

I detail his story to demonstrate that Sen. Biden has a life story that will resonate with the voters in Flint, Flushing, Burton, Grand Blanc, and every other community in our County. His life story is backed up by a voting record protecting women & children, being a great friend of labor, and a champion for civil rights.

I would hope that Senator Biden will have an opportunity to come to area and share his message of change and his track record of fighting for working class communities like Genesee County. In the mean time, we all need to head down to the Campaign for Change HQ in Flint at Fifth Ave. & Saginaw St. and share his and Sen. Obama's message for them.