We all thought we knew about the 46th President of the United States before his visit to Ireland this week. After all, he visited both publicly and privately before.
But the trip offered an intimate insight into what has shaped him as a man, father and politician, and how it has boosted his chances to running for a second term as President of the United States.
1. Election 2024: He's up for it
For the 2020 US Presidential election, the usual and rigorous campaign schedule was scrapped due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gone were hectic days of numerous events - meeting hundreds, if not thousands of people every week.
In 2020, Joe Biden was confined to his Delaware home, campaigning from his basement via video link.
The now president certainly did not face the usual presidential candidate endurance test.
Allies and critics admitted this played to his advantage, considering his advancing age.
As President Biden turned 80 last year and he expressed interest in running for a second term in office, commentators had questioned whether he would have the stamina and ability for a gruesome campaign schedule.
However, Mr Biden's trip to Ireland has proved that he can move from morning to noon to night.
He had ploughed through several speeches a day, met with crowds, clocked up much mileage – all while recalling key details of each person and place he visited.
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Many have been blown away by the president's busy, and sometimes late, timetable during his trip and how he kept a pep in his step the whole time.
While three days is a drop in the ocean compared to months of on-the-road campaigning, President Biden's team will hope that this image will convince some nay-sayers that he is up for the task when it comes to this upcoming election season.
2. Ireland is part of his soul and DNA
This is not Joe Biden's first rodeo in Ireland, but it will certainly go down as being another personal and poignant one.
His visit has not only put on display his strong Irish connections to Mayo, Louth, Galway and Donegal but a genuine affection for them.
Certainly, at times there was an air on nostalgia for the president when he announced that he was "home" and how he could not understand why his ancestors left.
However, for the most part, Mr Biden certainly convinced much of the Irish nation of his sincere love for his Irish heritage.
"We have to continue to keep the faith"
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 12, 2023
Speaking in Louth, US President @JoeBiden says that the Irish people are the only people in the world who are nostalgic about the future, adding that his message is to keep, and spread, the faith | Live updates: https://t.co/O1zX67gS0h pic.twitter.com/WHnsvymlT5
Mostly through precious moments and words, he made clear how his roots had shaped the person he has become over the past eight decades.
Whether it was speeches to the Oireachtas or jokes to a filled pub in Co Louth or his address to thousands in Ballina, President Biden's words of wisdom from his family during his childhood peppered his speeches.
"My Grandpa Finnegan would also say… 'Remember, Joey, the best drop of blood in you is Irish'," he quipped during an address at the Windsor Bar in Dundalk on Wednesday evening.
Or: "My grandfather, Ambrose Finnegan, used to say — and I mean this — he'd say, 'Joey, if you're lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky enough’."
All delivered with his classic, infectious charisma.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar summed it well during his speech in Ballina that Mr Biden is not the most Irish president because it was written on his family tree, but because it is "enshrined" in his soul, and in his heart - he never left.
3. Using his 'superpower'
Over his decades in politics, many have observed that his experience with grief has become Joe Biden's "superpower".
In the 70s he lost his first wife Neilia and baby daughter Naomi in a car accident. In 2015, his son Beau died from brain cancer at 46.
Mr Biden has repeatedly used these tragedies to connect with those grieving, often following national incidents.
In his 2017 book ‘Promise Me, Dad’ he wrote: "The pain had seemed unbearable in the beginning, and it took me a long time to heal, but I did survive the punishing ordeal. I made it through, with a lot of support and reconstructed my life and my family.
"When I talk to people in mourning, they know I speak from experience. They know I have a sense of the depth of their pain."
Joe Biden paid a visit to Mayo Roscommon Hospice, where he turned the sod on the development in 2017. While there he saw a plaque in memory of his late son Beau Biden | https://t.co/7LELAyeGXB pic.twitter.com/neNCrE2Zze
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 14, 2023
Grief has made him not only stand out as a person and a politician but as someone who can show real empathy to people who are going through incredibly difficult situations.
While in Northern Ireland, parties from both sides of the political aisle praised him for attempting to connect with them during his speech in Belfast as he appealed for power-sharing to return at Stormont.
That was done through references to both his Irish and British heritage, but his ‘superpower’ was subtly used throughout his speech too.
He spoke to the audience in Ulster University about the Troubles’ impact on families across Northern Ireland, how there was often "an empty seat at the dining room table" during the horrors of the Troubles.
Powerful words with his signature tone of understanding grief as he pushed everyone to continue on a path of peace.
Grief has made him not only stand out as a person and a politician but as someone who can show real empathy to people who are going through incredibly difficult situations.
Read more
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