Jill Biden: The stoic first lady who won’t give up her job

Jill Biden looks like an uncontroversial first lady. But the English teacher from New Jersey has an independent streak, and is determined to continue her career, writes Jane Mulkerrins

SCRANTON, PA - OCTOBER 12: Dr. Jill Biden listens in at a rally in support of Democratic presidential nomineee U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)October 12, 2008 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Fusco/Getty Images)

First lady of the United States is a funny old job — unelected, but impossibly influential, crucial in humanising the most powerful man in the world, but with no actual political power of its own. 

The office, however, makes single-moniker superstars of its most high-profile inhabitants — Jackie, Hillary, Michelle, Melania — and displays their dresses in museums.