With the presidential election
heating
up, all the
big names
are on the
table, but
how much
does the student
body at
Bucks know about the senior
senator from Delaware?
Barack Obama, John
McCain, Sarah Palin – all of
these names are well established
in the American lexicon.
It might be because of a
message of hope and change
that has spurred on a younger
generation of voters. For
McCain it could be the courageous
action of staying
behind in a Vietnamese POW
camp, or in the case of Palin, a
hilarious collection of
“Saturday Night Live” skits.
But one name is seemingly
absent from the general talking
points, the veteran senator
from Delaware, Joe Biden.
How much does the student
body at Bucks even know
about the Pennsylvania
native, if anything at all?
When a large group of students
were asked if they
knew anything about Biden,
eyes glazed over and jaws
turned slack, as a slurry of
“uh’s” and “um’s” came
spilling out in confusion.
For those who do not know
who Biden is, he is a native of
Pennsylvania, born in
Scranton on Nov. 20, 1942 to
Joseph Robinette Biden Sr.
and Eugenia Finnegan, and
he was the first of four children
in the family.
Biden graduated from the
University of Delaware in
1965, where he doublemajored
in history and political
science.
He received his law degree
from the Syracuse University
College of Law, and at the age
of 30, was elected a U.S.
Senator for Delaware, becoming
the fifth-youngest senator
in history.
Biden, with more than 35
years in the Senate, is also the
longest-serving senator in the
history of Delaware, and the
sixth-longest of current senators.
In the course of those 35
years in office, Biden has run
for president twice, once in
1988 and again in 2008, before
being picked up as the vice
presidential nominee for the
Democratic party this year.
Despite his respected pedigree
of time and commitment
within the U.S. government,
very few people at Bucks,
during one of the most heated
elections in recent history,
seem to have even the
vaguest knowledge of Biden.
“Palin and him came out of
nowhere,” said Kevin
Shelmire, a 20-year-old liberal
arts major from
Southampton. “I’m not sure
what it will be like to have
either of them as vice president.”
Even with the more politically
active students, there
seems to be an air of mystery
to the senior senator from
Delaware.
“Honestly? The debate was
the first time I ever saw him,”
said Anna Hollenbach, a 20-
year-old pre-nursing major
from Sellersville. “He was so
inconsistent at the debates.
He completely 180-ed on the
topic of gay marriage. He was
condescending; he just smiled
and looked down at [Palin.]”
So what would help Biden
move out from behind the
veil of obscurity at Bucks?
“Maybe he does have great
ideas, but we don’t get to see
them. We need to see more
about him, see more of his
family like we do with Palin,”
said Hollenbach.