Thread by @NaomiKritzer

So since we're talking about music and Joe Biden can I tell you how much the Hamilton song "Wait for It" makes me think about Joe and also about Joe Biden vs. Aaron Burr.

"Death doesn't discriminate / between the sinners and the saints / it takes, and it takes, and it takes."

Weeks after Joe Biden was elected to his first term in the Senate, his wife and daughter died in a car accident.

Of his surviving sons, one went on to die of cancer.

The other, Hunter, has struggled with addiction. To try to hurt Biden during the campaign, someone released texts sent between Joe and Hunter while Hunter was in treatment.

"Good morning my beautiful son. I miss you and love you," Joe sent to Hunter.

One of the weird ironies of the story told in the Hamilton musical was that Aaron Burr in the end can't bring himself to wait for it any longer.

Because if he HAD just waited -- served out his term in the Vice Presidency, and tried again in 4 years or 8?

Just about every founding father got a turn with the presidency, and I see no particular reason that Aaron would have been any different, except that he opted to kill Alexander in a snit.

Joe ran for President the first time in 1988. He tried again in 2008. Neither time got him even close. He got the opportunity to be VP, and went for it.

And then in 2016 his son was dying, so he waited again.

And then in 2020 he ran again.

And his inauguration is in two days.

But it really is all the losses he's lived through that make me think of this song. His first wife, his daughter, Beau.

Death doesn't discriminate
Between the sinners and the saints
It takes and it takes and it takes

And we keep living anyway
We rise and we fall and we break
And we make our mistakes
And if there's a reason I'm still alive
When everyone who loves me has died
I'm willing to wait for it
I'm willing to wait for it