Presidents showing empathy to survivors of tragedies has become a large part of the modern presidency. The chief executive — solemn-faced and usually with Mrs. President in tow — steps off a helicopter or Air Force One and is greeted by local dignitaries and the highest ranking member of the president’s party in the state. This signifies the political nature of the trip, and the survivors end up being little more than props in the disaster reality show created by the president’s political staff.
When the disaster happens in election season, the schmaltz is laid on so thickly that it typically obscures the horrifying reality of whatever the disaster was. After all, for the president, it’s a fine line between maudlin sentimentality and heartfelt sympathy that he must walk.
Some presidents excel at the public spectacle of tragedy. Bill Clinton was said to be exceptional at playing the mourner-in-chief, although I could never get past his insincerity. For example, when he showed up at the Oklahoma City bombing memorial, you could see the wheels turning about how he could make the unspeakable crime into a political attack on Republicans. Democrats are still trying to connect Republicans to terrorism today.
Ronald Reagan, on the other hand, struck exactly the right balance between personal empathy and presidential solemnity. He didn’t try to outdo anyone in displaying feelings for those lost. He was the president visiting the scene of a tragedy. Would that succeeding presidents have followed his example.
Joe Biden has never quite mastered the whole “presidential comforter” thing. He seems to believe that by telling personal anecdotes that are wildly unrelated to anything those stricken with tragedy have experienced, this somehow displays empathy. His story about his son Beau dying of cancer told when addressing the debacle exiting Afghanistan was bizarre.
“I don’t want to compare difficulties,” he said. And then he went on and did just that.
“We have a little sense — Jill and I — of what it’s like to lose a home.” His house in Rehoboth Beach, Del., had been struck by lightning, starting a very small fire in the kitchen. “I almost lost my wife, my ’67 Corvette, and my cat.”
NEW: President Biden once again tries to make the Maui fire that killed ~500 people about himself by telling a story about how he almost lost his corvette in a house fire.
You can always count on Biden to tell a story that didn’t happened.
“I don't want to compare difficulties,… pic.twitter.com/FI4bR85erR
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 22, 2023
Biden? Not only is it all show, but the pretense is so thin that he can’t even sound convincing. He simply tells stories about himself as if his experience can match that of the victims he pretends to comfort.
Biden has built a political career on parading his empathy, but that empathy is almost entirely fake. The loss of his first wife and daughter is indeed heartbreaking and I have no doubt that it strikes close to home.
But the stories he tells are of things that never happened, and it is and comes off as totally fake because at those moments his empathy is totally fake.
A kitchen fire in 2004? It’s not quite the same thing as a town wiped off the map.
Is it that he doesn’t know how to project empathy and compassion?
I know you lost your sacred land, homes & family memorabilia but I once lost a Corvette pic.twitter.com/44GG2jRC01
— Legacy Nap (@LL_Nap) August 22, 2023
“Biden… has long been seen as uniquely adept at leading with empathy amid tragedies like this one,” The Washington Post claimed this week. Yes, he certainly is a “uniquely adept” liar.
Biden was pleased to announce to those who lost everything that his administration was going to give residents of Lahaina a grand total of $700 “to help assist survivors with immediate essentials, including clothing, food, and transportation,” reports USA Today.
“To be candid, when he said $700 per household, I’m like, what are we supposed to do with that?” said Ashley Correa, a 32-year-old realtor who has spent the last two weeks organizing relief for friends and neighbors because the federal and state governments were nowhere to be seen.
The media has made damn sure that the Lahaina wildfire was not going to turn into Joe Biden’s Katrina — even though Bush’s response to the hurricane (slow as it was) was at least as good as Biden’s response to the wildfire.
But Biden has a “D” after his name. And that makes all the difference in the world.
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