SPRINGFIELD, MASS. (WHDH) - The former mayor of Springfield and longtime friend of President Joe Biden said he is not surprised his former classmate finally made it to the White House.
Bob Markel has known Biden for more than 60 years — all the way back to their days as high school freshmen in Delaware.
“This was an especially meaningful ceremony for me,” Markel said. “I almost have to pinch myself to say, ‘Is this really happening?”
Markel says he watched his friend rise to the highest public office over the years holding on the very values and loving personality that made him a great friend.
The old friend provided pictures of the two together over the years and said Biden was a gregarious, outgoing teenager who long showed his aptitude for politics.
“The old joke was that if Joe Biden were standing next to a light pole he’d strike up a conversation and not surprisingly he became president of our class,” Markel said.
He recalled a young Joe Biden spending the majority of a summer on year locked in his bedroom trying to overcome a severe stutter.
“In the summer of our sophomore year he spent the entire summer a lot of it up in his room speaking out loud trying to overcome that handicap and he did,” he said.
Markel also served as a Massachusetts elector for Biden.
“It was a very special and meaningful moment to cast an electoral vote in the house chamber,” he said.
Markel credits Biden’s long years in the Senate for teaching him to reach across the aisle and work with Republicans.
“And so I think if there is a chance for any president, given the divisions in this country and the political divisions in Congress, to get things done, he’s going to be the guy to do it,” he said.
Now as President Biden takes office says he know his friend will work to help unite the country.
“I know he appreciates without trying to bridge the gap between cultural and political we have in this country it will be difficult to accomplish his agenda,” Markel said.
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