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Remembering Beau Biden, 1969-2015. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired June 06, 2015 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00] (MUSIC)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: The oldest son of Vice President Joe Biden, Beau Biden, is being remembered this morning in Wilmington, Delaware. These are live pictures that you're watching coming from the church which is St. Anthony of Padua, a Roman Catholic Church where mourners are paying their final respects to the two-term Delaware attorney general.
The church has the capacity for at least a thousand. More seats have been added to try -- try, that is, to take in all who wish to be there.
CNN national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty is there and she joins us now live -- Sunlen.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Martin, incredibly moving moment already, seen just moments ago, the entire Biden family arrived just outside of this church and wait painfully with each step as Beau Biden's casket was slowly and delicately brought into this church. It was first draped in the red, white and blue American flag. Delicately folded. The entire family making their way into the funeral.
We will hear not only this musical selection, but we also will hear from Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay. He will sing during the course of the funeral. We're told that he was a favorite singer of Beau Biden. The family apparently did not ask Coldplay's lead singer to come out directly. He found out from a family friend, volunteered to come here for this funeral today.
Certainly will be an emotional moment throughout the funeral as well as the eulogy of President Obama. He took a very personal role in writing those remarks.
SAVIDGE: Sunlen, thank you very much. Let's go back to the service now.
(LIVE COVERAGE OF BEAU BIDEN'S FUNERAL SERVICES)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A tent should be destroyed. We have a building from God. A dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven. We are always courageous. Although we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. Yet, we are courageous. The word of the Lord.
CROWD: Thanks be to God. (MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Lord be with you.
CROWD: And with your spirit.
REV. LEO O'DONOVAN, PRESIDENT EMERITUS, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: A reading from the holy gospel according to John.
CROWD: Glory to you, Lord.
O'DONOVAN: Now when Jesus came to Bethany he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him while Mary sat in the house.
[11:05:07] Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." Jesus said to her "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
Jesus said to her "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though the person die, yet shall the person live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming into the world."
The gospel of the Lord.
CROWD: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
O'DONOVAN: Hallie, dearest Natalie and Hunter; Joe and Jill; Hunter and Kathleen, Ashley and Howard. Your Eminence Cardinal McCarrick, Your Excellency Bishop Egan, Your Excellency Bishop Malully, Your Eminence Archbishop Demetrius, Reverend Wright, Rabbi Beals, Reverend Beamen, Reverend Jones, President Obama, General Odierno -- the many other dignitaries and public servant who is are here, dear friends all.
The reaction has been universal. Whether you were a friend of Beau Biden's or knew him only from the press, how sad. How very, very sad. It's heart-breaking. When I heard the news, I wept.
This great young man, this splendid son, this devoted deeply loving husband and father, as true a brother as anyone could ever have, this peerlessly patriotic public servant, gone. Gone. Gone. It was, is, like the night of Good Friday. The one we hoped in, counted on, thought our future has been taken from us. How do you say good-bye to the finest man any of us have ever known?
First I think we face the loss. The fact that we have lost the handsome, winning, humble presence of an incomparable gift -- the richness of that gift is the measure of our grief. The nobler a man is the more he is praised and even revered. But the truly noble man, the righteous man of the book of wisdom knows that the one to be praised and indeed worshipped, is not himself, but his creator. The ground and goal of his life.
For all his sense of responsibility and commitment, he knows that he did not invent himself, but was given life and a world to fulfill it in by a loving Lord. Only at the end of the life can he or his Lord or indeed any of us make a full accounting of its achievement. Whether young or old that are dying, it is only then that we can say of the life we have been given and of all those, we have loved within the gift, take it now, Lord. It was your gift, all my family and friends and public service were your gift as well. Take them now. Take them now. Enfold them in your mercy, lead us home. You alone know fully the grace that accompany your gift.
[11:09:49] As surely as Beau Biden knelt at night to pray with his wife and children, whether in these words or some like them, he knew the words of Jesus on the cross. "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." Words that are offered to all of us to share on the Good Fridays of our lives.
Whether in prolonged suffering like Beau's, or in the gradual diminishment of age, our mortal lives are gifts that must pass through the darkness of death if they are to know the splendor of eternity. In this sense, death is not extinguishing the light as the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote. "It is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come." Or in the words of Paul, "We hope that even if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands."
Beau's life of giving to his fellow citizens, and above all to his family, was dazzling. As a young lawyer working for the Justice Department in Philadelphia, and also in war-torn Kosovo; as a member of the Delaware Army National Guard, and a major in the Judge Advocate General Corps; as attorney general of Delaware, for going a run for the United States Senate because he felt it his duty to continue his mission to protect children from abuse. The watch words were: honor, courage, integrity.
My own favorite picture shows him standing before his father at an American base near Baghdad on July 4th, 2009, midway through his deployment in Iraq. The two men known for the warmth of their smiles, are close to grim. A sense of danger and possibly worse hangs over the crew-cut son in fatigues looking into the eyes of the earnest father. There is no limit to what the protection of life may entail.
Nor was there for Jesus. If all of life is ultimately gift, how was he the gift that would redeem and fulfill the gift of our creation. How did God give us this son to reveal God's vision of the world and lead the world to God. I would prefer not to say that God give us the son to die for us. What father could possibly envisage that?
Rather, God gave us the son, God's own word and our flesh to live with and for us. God gave us Jesus to preach the kingdom among us -- a reign of reciprocity, forgiveness, healing and fulfillment. If that mission led to violent rejection by authorities, civil and religious, whom it threatened, so be it. Jesus would not turn back. He remained true to his word and the very deepest sense even to the cross which made it possible for god once and forever to reveal the power of his forgiving love over even the cruelest death.
Death is so often cruel. We feel that today, moving from Good Friday into Holy Saturday when all is silence. Feelings are muted, grief and mourning overtake everything. But was gone. But from our immediate vision only. For we live now, not only after Good Friday and through Holy Saturday, but in Easter.
And here is Beau's great final gift to us. Promising as he most assuredly was, his death calls us to hear again the promise -- the promise that the gift of life entails. It is the promise first given do the Jewish people that their God would never fail them. But would be faithful to them forever. It is the promise spoken by Jesus to Martha of Bethany, after the death of her brother, Lazarus. "I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, though the person dies, yet shall the person live."
[11:14:55] "In Jesus Christ," writes St. Paul, "it is always yes." For all the promises of God find their yes in him. That is why we utter the "amen" through him, to the glory of God.
In a few moments in our Eucharistic prayer, we will recall this mystery of our redemption. The fulfillment of the promise that attended creation from its beginning and courses through it still in the Holy Spirit. And for us, in a special way, it becomes the promise of union with Beau in the communion of saints now and one day forever.
We pray to be united now and one day forever with a remarkable man for whom belief was not simply a view of life, but engaged love. Not merely confession, but commitment. Not only a generous life, but a search for justice that makes friendship possible.
For many of its saints, the Catholic Church celebrates their feast on the day of the saint's death. The day of final union with God. Through Christ and in the holy spirit. I have little doubt that in this sense May 30th, 2015 is a feast day for everyone here. We may be weeping, and may weep more. But thanks to Beau, this is also a time of almost unlimited grace. I pray for all of us, that the gift and promise of his life may deepen our love and faith and hope in God, and in one another in God.
(MUSIC)
O'DONOVAN: Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the Almighty Father.
CROWD: May the Lord accept this sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his church.
O'DONOVAN: As we humbly present to you these sacrificial offerings, oh Lord, for the salvation of your servant, Beau, we beseech your mercy that he who did not doubt your son to be a loving savior may find in him a merciful judge, who lives and reigns forever and ever -- Amen. The Lord be with you.
CROWD: And with your spirit.
O'DONOVAN: Lift up your hearts.
CROWD: We lift them up to the Lord.
O'DONOVAN: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
CROWD: It is right and just.
O'DONOVAN: It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere, to give you thanks, Lord, Holy Father, almighty and eternal god, through Christ our Lord. In him the hope of blessed resurrection has dawned. that those saddened by the certainty of dying might be consoled by the promise of immortality to come.
Indeed, for your faithful, Lord, life has changed, not ended. And when this earthly dwelling turns to dust, and eternal dwelling is made ready in heaven. And so, with angels and archangels and thrones and dominions and with all the hosts and powers of heaven, we sing the hymn of your glory, as without end we acclaim --
(MUSIC)
[11:21:01] O'DONOVAN: You are indeed holy, oh Lord, and all you have created rightly gives you praise. For through your son our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power and working of the Holy Spirit you gave life to all things. And made them holy. And you never cease to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising of the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name.
Therefore, oh Lord, we humbly implore you, by the same spirit graciously make holy these gifts we have brought to you for consecration so that they may become the body and blood of your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we celebrate these mysteries.
For on the night he was betrayed, he himself took bread, and giving you thanks, he said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take this, all of you, and eat of it. For this is my body, which will be given up for you."
In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice, and giving you thanks, he said the blessing and gave the chalice to his disciple, saying, "Take this, all of you and drink from it for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.
The mystery of our faith.
(MUSIC)
O'DONOVAN: Therefore, oh Lord, as we celebrate the memorial of his saving passion, his wondrous resurrection and ascension into heaven, and as we look forward to his second coming, we offer you in thanksgiving, this holy and living sacrifice.
Look, we pray, upon the oblation of your church, recognizing the sacrificial victim by whose death, you will reconcile us to yourself. Grant that we who are nourished by the body and blood of your son, may be filled with his Holy Spirit and become one body, one spirit in Christ.
May he make of us an eternal offering to you, so that we may obtain an inheritance, especially with the most blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with your blessed apostles and glorious martyrs, with Anthony and all the saints, on whose constant intercession in your presence we rely for daily help.
May this sacrifice of our reconciliation, we pray, oh Lord, advance the peace and salvation of all the world. Please to confirm in faith and charity your pilgrim church under, with your servant Francis our Pope, Francis our Bishop, the order of bishops, all the clergy, and the entire people you ordained for your own.
[11:30:03] Remember your servant, Beau, whom you have called from this world to yourself. Grant that he is united with your son to a death like his. May he also be one with him in resurrection. When from the earth he will raise up the flesh, in the flesh, those who have died, and transform our lowly body after the pattern of his own glorious body.
To our departed brothers and sisters, too, and to all who are pleasing to you in their passing from this life, give kind admittance in your kingdom. There we hope to enjoy forever the fullness of your glory, when you will wipe away every tear from our eyes. For seeing you, our God, as you are, we shall be like you, for all the ages, and praise you without end, through Christ our Lord, to whom you bestow on the world all that is good. Through him, and with him, and in him, oh God Almighty Father, in the unity of the holy spirit, all the glory and honor is yours forever and ever. Amen.
(MUSIC)
O'DONOVAN: Let us pray now as the Lord himself taught us.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Deliver us, oh Lord, we pray, from every evil. Graciously grant peace in our days, that by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress. As we await the blessed hope (ph) and the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ, for the kingdom, the power, the glory are yours, now and forever.
Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles -- peace I leave you. My peace I give you. Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your church and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will, who live and reign forever and ever. Amen. Peace of the Lord be always with you. And share with one another the sign of the Lord's peace.
(MUSIC)
(CHOIR SINGING)
[11:35:45] O'DONOVAN: This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We are blessed to be called to his table.
For communion, there will be stations at the front of the church, in the middle, and in the back. If you wish to receive communion, please come forward through the center aisle and return to your seats by the side aisles. If you do not wish to receive communion but would like to receive a blessing, which we greatly encourage, please come forward with your hands folded on your chest to receive the blessing.
(CHOIR SINGING -- "AMAZING GRACE")
SAVIDGE (voice-over): You're watching the funeral service for Beau Biden, the son of Vice President Joe Biden. Beau passed away May 30 at the age of 46 after battling brain cancer. The service is going into the delivery of communion now. So it's a moment where we can talk with some guests who are with us.
And joining me, Allan Lichtman, presidential historian and distinguished professor at American University; CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. He's the editorial direcotr of the "National Journal" there in Washington. And then there is Larry Sabato, he is the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
And, Ron, let me start with you. I take it that, with the president, who will be delivering the eulogy, this becomes much more than just a Delaware event. It is a national moment.
RON BRONWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes and I think has been. I mean, I am struck by the reaction of this story and it's partly because I think everybody who knew him felt that Beau Biden was a very admirable and warm person. But I think there are two other things that really have elevated attention on this. One is that he was someone -- he grew up the son of a senator, and that opened certain doors for you in life, but he was someone who seemed very determined to make it on his own, and to make his own way. I mean, he served in Iraq at a time when we could say that about very few children of members of Congress. And when his father's seat opened after he was elected to Vice President, he chose not to run for the Senate, to finish what he was doing in his work Delaware in the attorney general's office.
The other thing I would say is that partially this is about Joe Biden. Because as many viewers know, he was elected to the Senate very young, and in the interim between his election and his swearing in, his wife and young infant daughter were killed, tragically, in a car accident. And he spent years after that, in the Senate, commuting home every night to Delaware. You know, before there were helicopter parent, he was railroad parent, raising these two young boys. [11:40:05] And to see this kind of loss after that kind of dedication,
I think this is partially about respect for him as really one of the last happy warriors we have in our political system.
SAVIDGE: Larry, let me ask you this, how do you think this likely to affect Joe Biden as Vice President going forward?
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Well, most people doubt that he's going to run for president. I can't imagine this event would make it more likely. It could possibly make it less likely. But I think it does, as Ron was saying, puts some emphasis and a spotlight on the relationship between the Obamas and the Bidens. They've actually grown quite close. I think it's a closer relationship than usually exists, a personal relationship between the presidential family and the vice presidential family.
And Obama and Biden have worked very well together over the past six years. That isn't always true in our history. It hasn't been true in recent history in several circumstances. So it's tragic event, it's a horrible event, that somebody so young and with so much promise, would die. But there may be some slight positive in this horrible negative.
SAVIDGE: There was evidence of that closeness clearly just before communion there, as you the president and vice president embrace. And you are struck by the fact that these are two men from very different backgrounds, who have grown very, very close because of the service that they have had to their country and to one another.
I wanted to ask Allan, as we look at this, how does this sort of add to the country's historical story?
ALLAN LICHTMAN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: This is an extraordinary historical story. It's been more than 50 years since a sitting president or vice president have experienced the death of a child. And that was John F. Kennedy with a premature child who was just a few day old.
So this is an unusual event, but it's not without precedent. We can go back to the administration of Calvin Coolidge, whose son died at the age of 16, in 1924, while Coolidge was in office. And it completely changed the Coolidge presidency. He became, many historians believe, clinically depressed. He became detached from his office. He himself said, "The power and glory of the presidency had gone away with the death of his son." And that may well have contributed to presidential inaction as the country was lurching toward the Great Depression of 1929.
And of course, Abraham Lincoln experienced the death of his 11-year- old son, Willie, in 1862, early in the Civil War when the outcome was very uncertain. This death drove his wife, Mary Todd, nearly to madness. And many believe deepened Lincoln's resolve to purse this war to a necessary end, no matter what the price to pay or no matter what the sacrifices were to be made.
So the death of children of occupants of the White House have had profound historical significance in the United States. I don't think this event is quite at that level, because we're talking about a vice president not a president, but I think it will steel Joe Biden to make the most of his last years as vice president, to make as much of a contribution as he possibly can.
And for all of us, it reminds us, no matter what heights you reach, the presidency, the vice presidency, you are subject to the same afflictions, the same tragedies, that effect every on upon this earth.
SAVIDGE: It's very true. Ron, I wanted to ask you, Beau Biden himself had a trajectory in politics that was looking extremely promising. Where do we think that could have led?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think the expectation was that he was going to run for governor of Delaware. As I said $, he chose not to run for the Senate when his father's seat opened after he became vice president. But I think the expectation was that he was going to run for governor of Delaware.
And, look, this is a party right now, the Democratic Party, that has kind of a generation gap. I mean, they really do not have a lot of younger leaders who are kind of that next generation. I mean, you look at Hillary Clinton as the front-runner, you know, as president, who's been in the national eye for two decades. So he was someone, as governor of Delaware, who knows if he would have been elected there. He certainly was a favorite in such a Democratic-leaning state. Who knows else might have been in his future with that background. But the most immediate step I think was the expectation that he would have run and probably been elected as governor of Delaware.
SAVIDGE: And Larry, the name -- the Biden family name is iconic there in the State of Delaware.
[11:45:09] SABATO: Absolutely. And Ron is correct. I think that Beau Biden would have been the next governor of Delaware. Delaware has become a heavily Democratic state. And, you know, given our somewhat liking of dynasty, as we're seeing in the 2016 race, I suspect that Beau Biden would have had a national career beyond Delaware. So for him to die at the age of 46, the same age that President Kennedy was when he passed away, is doubly tragic.
SAVIDGE: I am struck by the fact that obviously the Biden family has been visited by tragedy, as we've already mentioned before. And it has always seemed that Vice President Joe Biden has had a particular strength when it comes to assisting others in times of grief. And then it's just the official job, it seems also, of the vice president to attend so many funerals.
But, now, it is a funeral in which he is so deeply involved and so deeply grieving. It's just a turnabout that is quite remarkable.
BROWNSTEIN: Well I think you could see it saw as he was walking in, where he just -- I think everyone saw the enormous grief that he was confronting at that moment. And you're right, I mean, this is someone who in many ways, his emotions have been visible on his sleeve throughout his political career. I've covered him since his first presidential run in the 1980s. And, you know, this is someone you never really have to look very hard to see what he's thinking or feeling. And I think it was very much and very painfully on display at that moment.
SAVIDGE: Allan, as you look at this, and we note, this is an event that of course now transcends political lines. There's no one talking politics at this particular time. Is that usually the case in these tragic circumstances?
LICHTMAN: Absolutely. This is a human tragedy with which all of us can identify. None of us really want to outlive the lives of our children. And we can all feel the pain of Joe Biden and Joe Biden's family. And we don't need to put this in the context of partisanship.
I think maybe this shows, you know, our common humanity, above and beyond all of the ideological and partisan bickerings that we so unfortunately see in the capital today. And maybe, maybe, this tragic event will have some effect on our political system. Maybe in some small way it will soften the acrimony. Maybe in some small way it will dampen the controversy and make us see how much we do have in common, how much we do share and perhaps this could help the two contending sides find common ground. Sometimes, out of tragedy, some very good things can evolve.
SAVIDGE: Larry, we mentioned the fact that of course the president is going to be among those who will deliver a eulogy. We've talked about the closeness between the vice president and the president. What is it that is so unique in their particular relationship? And how did it come to be?
SABATO: In politics, President Obama tends to be more rational, cool, in his interpretation of events. Vice President Biden is much more emotional, sympathetic and empathetic with people. It's a nice combination. I think they both have recognized what the other brings to their own strengths.
So over the years, while it got off to a rocky start a bit, back in the 2008 campaign, their relationship has grown much stronger. I've been told that the wives are also good friends. And so they've come to know each other as people and as families, and that makes this a personal tragedy for the president and Mrs. Obama as well. I'm sure President Obama will give a powerful speech, and probably a very emotional.
SAVIDGE: And we'll just take a moment to continue to listen to the beautiful choir here.
[11:49:35]
(CHOIR SINGING)
(SINGING -- "BE NOT AFRAID")
[11:57:19]
O'DONOVAN: Lord God, your son left us in the sacrament of his body, food for the journey. Mercifully grant and strengthened by it, our brother Beau may come to the eternal table of Christ who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
AUDIENCE: Amen.
GEN. RAYMOND ODIERNO, ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF: Good morning.
It is my distinct honor to be here today to remember and celebrate the life and accomplishments of Beau Biden -- a father, a husband, a son, a friend, a leader, a soldier, and a patriot. A life much too short, but a life that had incredible meaning and a life that left an indelible mark on all of us.
