Most politicians accept the daily grind of
pressing the flesh and making small talk
about their jobs or campaigns as an
unwelcome necessity that comes with the
territory.
Not Joe Biden .
The affable US vice president relishes the
personal showmanship of politics and his role as
America's soothing, smirking, shoulder-
massaging, consoling dignitary who embraces
the pomp and personal connections like no one
else in America's political arena.
On Tuesday, 17 days before he ends his eight-
year stint as the nation's 47th vice president, the
Democrat was in full-on "Uncle Joe" mode.
As the 115th Congress opened following one of
the most bitter and controversial presidential
campaigns in memory, the 74-year-old spent
more than 100 straight minutes on his feet in the
old Senate chamber, re-enacting the swearing-in
ceremonies for the Senate's new and re-elected
members.
Inevitably, he welcomed the spouses first.
" God love ya! " Biden said with outstretched
arms as he greeted Senator Chuck Grassley's
wife with a deep hug before backslapping
Grassley, a Republican.
Biden spent 36 years in the US Senate, 28 of
them with Grassley, and the vice president was
all smiles.
The greatest honor
" Keep on coming! " Biden shouted as some 33
members from four generations of Grassleys
paraded in for a photograph.
If most politicos see such a task as drudgery,
Biden soaked it up.
He snapped selfies with grinning relatives,
squatted down to flirt with toddlers and, as is his
reputation, got touchy-feely close while greeting
dozens of lawmakers, wives, sisters, mothers,
and daughters.
When Republican Senator Rob Portman 's son
introduced his girlfriend, a Biden fan, to the vice
president, the woman gushed: " You just made
my 2017! " before falling into his open arms.
Biden of course has had his share of tragedy. His
wife and daughter were killed in a car crash in
late 1972 just weeks after he was elected to the
Senate.
He took his oath of office in hospital, alongside
his two recovering sons.
One of them, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer in
2015.
And yet Biden remains as optimistic and upbeat
as anyone on Capitol Hill as he greeted
hundreds of lawmakers' relatives in a ceremony
he was presiding over Tuesday for a fourth and
final time.
"I'm so glad you ran again" for Senate, he told
Senator John McCain , who lost his presidential
race against Biden's boss, Barack Obama, in
2008 and was considering retiring last year.
"We love you, " McCain replied, highlighting the
genuineness of the exchanges which served as a
counterweight to the toxicity of the 2016
campaign.
Biden does not mask his fondness for what has
been called the world's greatest deliberative
body.
When a lawmaker’s wife called Biden "senator"
as she greeted him, the vice president lit up.
" That's a high honor," Biden said.
With the re-enactments finally over, Biden spoke
with reporters about his time in the Capitol.
" This is an incredible place, as diminished in
the minds of the people that it has become
of late. But if you listen, if you listen and
have an open mind, it works," he said.
"I do miss it. I loved being a senator, " he
added. "It was the greatest honor of my life."
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