President Joe Biden, we keep hearing, is a deeply empathetic man. It is that empathy that brought him to the presidencyâhis deep and abiding capacity to connect with others. In âWhat It Takes,â Richard Ben Cramerâs detailed blow-by-blow of the 1988 election cycle, Cramer describes Bidenâs ability to âconnectâ as his greatest supposed skill.
This has been the pitch for Biden for decades: Not much in the way of brains, not a tremendously resourceful politician, awkward on his feetâbut he cares. In the words of Mark Gitenstein, Bidenâs 1988 speechwriter and a four-decade adviser, âHis ability to communicate with people in pain is maybe his most powerful strength.â
Or maybe, just maybe, Biden was never an empathetic man. Maybe he simply trafficked in ersatz empathy, all the while feeding his own narcissism.
That story certainly looks more plausible these days.
This week, Biden visited Maui. He did so nearly two weeks after the worst wildfire in modern American history killed over a hundred Americans. Meanwhile, Biden vacationed in Delaware on the beach, telling reporters he had âno commentâ on the situation; he then jet-set off to Lake Tahoe before finally heading to Lahaina.
Once he reached Hawaii, he proceeded to explain that he felt the pain of those whose family members had been incinerated. After all, he said, one time he experienced a small kitchen fire.
âI donât want to compare difficulties, but we have a little sense, Jill and I, of what it was like to lose a home,â he jabbered. âYears ago, now, 15 years, I was in Washington doing âMeet the Press.â ⌠Lightning struck at home on a little lake outside the home. Not a lakeâa big pond. It hit the wire and came up underneath our home, into the ⌠air condition ducts. To make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my â67 Corvette, and my cat.â
In reality, back in 2004, lightning caused a kitchen fire in Bidenâs home that was put out in 20 minutes with no other damage.
If this were an isolated incident, we could chalk it up to Bidenâs encroaching senility. But it isnât. After presiding over the botched pullout from Afghanistan that resulted in the return of the Taliban, the murder of 13 American servicemembers, the abandonment of hundreds of American citizens and thousands of American green card holders, and the subjugation of some tens of millions of women, Biden essentially shrugged. Then, when faced with the families of wounded and killed American soldiers, he attempted to âfeel their painâ by invoking the death of his son, Beau.
According to Cheryl Rex, whose son died in the Abbey Gate bombing of Aug. 26, 2021: âHis words to me were, âMy wife, Jill, and I know how you feel. We lost our son as well and brought him home in a flag-draped coffin.’â
Biden has cited Beau in similar instances multiple times.
In the Jewish community, the death of a loved one is followed by shiva, a seven-day period of mourning. During shiva, mourners donât leave their homes; they are instead cared for by the community, provided with food and communal prayer. Members of the community visit the shiva house to provide comfort.
The first rule of visiting a shiva house: Donât talk about your own experiences with death or pain. Itâs gauche and irrelevant and trivializing.
Yet this is Bidenâs first move.
Empathy is the quality of putting yourself in the place of others. But Biden isnât an empath. Heâs someone who believes that everyone elseâs pain is merely a reflection of his own.
Copyright 2023 Creators Syndicate, www.creators.com.
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