US: The place Biden will call home after leaving White House

Joe Biden has always regarded two places as home – Ireland and Delaware.

When he leaves the White House in a matter of months he will head to the latter, and in that state there is some anger at the way he lost his chance to serve a second term as President.

Yet even his supporters accept that the 81-year-old was showing his age when his Democratic Party colleagues told him it was time to leave the race.

“I think it would have run him into the ground for sure, to have a campaign to try to come up above the (polling) numbers that have been so horrible for the whole time he has been in office,” says Kathy Magner.

Kathy Magner’s father worked with Biden’s dad 50 years ago and she has known him for decades.

“I think what time he has left after the presidency, he can enjoy it knowing he did the best he could,” she says.

Kathy helps run Limestone Presbyterian Church in Wilmington and one of her jobs is to put up a message with meaning on a sign at the front of the building.

Just days ahead of the election, when America decides between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the sign states: ‘Hate never solves problems. It creates them.’

There seems little doubt that those words are a nod towards how politically divisive the last few months have been.

It has even had an impact within the congregation here.

“We have had family members who have disowned each other because they are on the other side,” says Kathy.

“I have a sister-in-law who I will not talk to, because if I call her we end up shouting and I just hang up on her.”

Last year Limestone Presbyterian helped to host Christian teenagers from Northern Ireland as part of a cross-community initiative.

The pastor of the church says those visits gave him some optimism that America’s divisions could be overcome.

“What I found interesting was the history of the Ulster Project,” says Reverend Tim Bostick.

“Of how it grew out of the Catholic and Protestant challenges that Northern Ireland had gone through.

“And learning to appreciate and respect each other through our differences.

“We need more of that!”

But in the centre of Wilmington, outside the railroad station named after Joseph R Biden Jr. it was clear that not everyone agreed.

One Trump supporter told me that America was a worse place now because of Biden.

And when I asked him what his presidency would be remembered for, he said two words: “His senility.”

Generally though I found a fondness for the outgoing President who is a familiar figure in the city.

One of his favourite places to eat is the Charcoal Pit diner.

Inside the 1950s-themed restaurant there are pictures of visits by both Biden and the man he served as vice-president Barack Obama.

While understandably he has been a less regular visitor during the last four years, the diner’s staff say he still gets food to take out when he’s in Delaware.

“He eats cheesesteaks and cheeseburgers… And thick black and white shakes with extra ice cream,” says the chef Lupe Avilez.

“And he talks to you like he’s known you forever.”

Like their most famous regular, Lupe’s wife Mary has familial links to Ireland. And she says Biden’s love of the island is obvious even in the west wing.

“I know someone that works in a bank locally and she was in the Oval Office a week ago,” reveals Mary.

“She says that he has a rugby ball signed by all the players… And a big photo album full of pictures of everywhere he went in Ireland.

“She said it was so nice to see.”

Joe Biden’s presidential visit to Ireland last year was memorable, personal and political.

The trip was a celebration of his roots but also a chance to throw his leadership weight behind political progress in Northern Ireland.

He has backed that up by encouraging trans-Atlantic investment from America through his economic envoy, Joe Kennedy III.

Securing big sums is always difficult but Biden’s pick for the role showed he was serious in trying to make it work.

Kennedy is charismatic, well-connected and part of a Democratic party dynasty with their own Irish links.

But he indicated recently on BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme that he is likely to move on when this Presidency ends in January.

Whether Kennedy will be replaced and how important Ireland (north and south) will be in the next White House is not exactly clear, no matter who wins.

Once US politicians fretted over the Irish-American vote. This election has shown how much its importance has faded into the distance, with both campaigns much more concerned about getting the likes of Black and Latino voters to the ballot box.

However, Mary Avilez believes it still matters.

“I think it is important because we need to have relationships with other countries,” she insists.

Not everyone agrees. Many commentators suggest the tone and priorities of recent debates indicate that America is looking ever inward, as it finally decides who should be its next leader.