Dem
47
GOP
53
Joe Biden will be president for a little more than one more week. And he—or, more accurately, his progeny—snuck one in under the gun on Wednesday. His granddaughter Naomi Biden gave birth to a 10-pound, four-ounce son named William Brannon Neal IV. The baby was delivered via cesarean section. We are not sure why that is relevant, or is even anyone's business, but it seems to always be reported on. So, we pass it along, in case it tells readers something important that it does not tell us.
This, of course, makes Biden a great-grandfather. And, as far as can be determined from the documentary record, Biden is the first president to become a great-grandfather while still in office. That sort of thing will happen when you're the oldest president in U.S. history. People did have kids younger back in the day, and record-keeping was not as good, so it's at least possible that some early-to-mid-19th-century president broke this particular glass ceiling first, but probably not.
As chance would have it, Biden has already been able to greet the new arrival. The delivery took place at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, and he was in town to survey the fire damage. It certainly looks like this was a (somewhat happy) coincidence; the delivery was scheduled long ago and, until the fires broke out, Biden was scheduled to be out of the country. In any case, he began his "fire update" press conference with: "The good news is I'm a great-grandfather as of today."
Opinions on Joe Biden the president vary, of course. But the evidence is strong that Biden the man is a good guy, so much so that we listed him as being among the most decent presidents in U.S. history over the weekend (along with Jimmy Carter, John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Gerald Ford and Barack Obama). He's also very devoted to his family. So, it's nice that he can head into retirement with something to look forward to. Our congratulations to the President and his family.
Have a good weekend, all! (Z)