If you want to see a politician who’s a real human being, take a long look at Joe Biden. You may never ever see another one like him.

Tragedy has bookended Biden’s long public life. Just weeks after he was elected Senator at age 29 in 1972, his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash, and their two sons were injured. Biden himself nearly died of a brain aneurism after a disastrous presidential campaign in 1988.

Now his son Beau, a remarkable man and public servant himself, has died too young.

In between, Joe Biden often seemed to be one long national laugh line, a political reality show in which we cheer him sometimes, laugh at him often and sometimes just wince in embarrassment.

But Google him today and you’ll see a new appreciation of what one reporter called “the remarkable humanity of Joe Biden.”

First off, Biden has accomplished something no American has done in our history. As Vice President, he forged a true bond of trust and friendship with the President he served. You could look it up.

Americans want politicians who work across party lines. Biden could and still can. He got along with and worked with Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond and Mitch McConnell.

Americans want politicians who are authentic human beings, not programmed automatons. Biden is nothing if not authentic.

You saw his humanity at Beau’s funeral. You saw it when he stood for 10 hours, greeting people who came to pay their respects. You saw that, to Biden, it’s always family first.

Most of all, you saw what he was talking about when he gave the commencement speech at Yale University this spring:

“The most successful and happiest people I’ve known understand that a good life at its core is about being personal. It’s about being engaged. It’s about being there for a friend or a colleague when they’re injured or in an accident, remembering the birthdays, congratulating them on their marriage, celebrating the birth of their child. It’s about being available to them when they’re going through personal loss. It’s about loving someone more than yourself….It all seems to get down to being personal.”

So celebrate Joe Biden while he’s still here.

And, Democrats, keep in mind that we do have a backup if Hillary stumbles.