Thread by @TomJunod

Let's give the devil his due: he's tireless. He has an iron constitution. . He wasn't just a politician; he was a desperate man, and from his desperation he drew the power to hypnotize vast crowds. 1/

He was never anything less than a finisher, which is what made him dangerous, especially down the stretch in an election. Even today, he couldn't do anything but try to make the sale, even to people who supposedly loved him. 2/

Even today, he couldn't think of anything to say to them but the classic kiss-off of a bitter man: "Have a good life." 3/

I give the devil his due in order to give the other character in this historic drama his due -- the character whose virtues his opponent could never understand. 4/

He is, after all, an old man. He did, after all, have a speech impediment. He failed, after all , in two previous runs for the presidency, the first time for ignominious reasons. 5/

He lost, after all, all there is to lose, in the loss of his first wife and two of his children. He does, after all, have a son whose vulnerabilities make him vulnerable. 6/

When he entered into a fight for the privilege of leading this country, his opponent relentlessly mocked not only him but his mental capacity, even face to face, in their debates. 7/

But he won both debates, and I happen to think he won the presidency when his opponent went after his son and he responded by saying the loving words his opponent never could: "I am proud of my son." 8/

This supposedly fragile man never bent and never broke, and kept resolute and steadfast in the conviction that he was fighting not for power but for this country's soul. And he won. 9/

In the greatest political and perhaps even moral achievement of my lifetime, he won, and an hour ago he was sworn in as our 46th president. 10/

I write this because it's easy to remember that there was a villain in this contest, a man who would not only do anything to win but whose unique powers of persuasion were driven by his desperate conviction that he couldn't lose. 11/

He, as a man, couldn't allow himself to lose, and so we, as a country, nearly lost everything. 12/

But out of our moment of crisis came a man who had lost everything and now was somehow up to the historic occasion, and so emerged as the one man we needed. 13/

His name is Joe Biden, and he is not only our president. 14/

He is a hero.

15/End.