 "Biden elected for sole purpose of healing, uniting America: Family friend")
Joe Biden is the right person for the job, a long-time family friend of the President-elect has said, asserting that the top Democrat has been elected for the sole purpose of healing and uniting the deeply polarised country.
Biden is good at healing and uniting, the 77-year-old former US vice president's close family friend Michael Karloutsos told PTI in an interview.
"I believe Joe Biden was elected for the sole purpose of healing and uniting, bringing our country together. These are the things that he's good at," he said.
He can speak to the common American, but at the same time speak to the Park Ave American. He's the right person for the job, said Karloutsos, who serves as president and CEO of MAK Consulting, a company specialising in international business development, public relations, logistical support, crisis management and government affairs.
Michael and his father, Father Alex Karloutsos, who has a key role in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and standing internationally with the church, has been a close family friend of the Bidens going back to nearly four decades since when he was a Senator.
Over the years, my father and the President-elect were able to develop a relationship over time. And then that relationship was ultimately transcended into a relationship between myself, the President-elect, but also with his son, and family. So, with (sons) Bo and then with Hunter. It really over the course of time, became very personal, and it's something that I cherish, Karloutsos said.
Responding to a question, Virginia-based Karloutsos said he doesn't know of many people who are more decent, and more honourable than Biden.
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He is a good and humble person. He's a man of faith. He's a man that loves his family unconditionally that you have seen over and over again, he said.
Biden is just the second Roman Catholic to be elected president in US history, and the first since John F Kennedy in 1961.
Noting that Biden understands the value of service to one's country, Karloutsos said the Democratic leader was compelled to run to serve the nation and playing the role of the healer-in-chief.
That's ultimately the reason why he ran this time around, when so many people thought he's too old, he's been around for too long, he said.
America was already divided, but the custodial death of Black American George Floyd in Minneapolis in May and the protests that followed bitterly divided the country, he said.
"When you look at the fact that President Donald Trump has received more votes in losing an election than President Barack Obama received in winning an election, it really tells you how divided the United States of America is," Karloutsos said.
The fact that you have an Indian-American, a Black-American as the vice president-elect speaks of the beauty of America, and also the greatness of America that in itself is a unifying symbol, he said, referring to the historic election of Kamala Harris as the first woman vice president of the country.
Asserting that the US has always been a place of hope for the rest of the world", Karloutsos said that Biden not only gives America a chance to unify but the world as well that is much needed now.
I consider myself blessed to have the relationship that we do. I also consider myself fortunate in the fact that I believe they value relationships. They as a family value relationships, the same way we do as a family. That's what makes it special, he said.
Based on the interaction that he had with Biden during the campaign, Karloutsos said he will be the type of president who wants America to lead and not sit on the sidelines.
He wants America to be the leader in the world that has always been kind of the moral authority that it has been, he said adding that Biden, from his perspective, is a kind of a person who wants to instill hope, not just in people who voted for him, but also in those who didn't vote for him.
Biden's presidency will be inclusive and will want everybody to share the American dream, Karloutsos said.