It’s not enough, but it’s all we can expect.
I don’t know if that photograph really is a leak of secret information.
Here’s what bothers me about it. There’s Biden sitting behind a table that’s way too big for one man, and his advisers are heads on the TV. That was released by the White House yesterday, presumably to convey the message that Biden is on duty and working hard and to appease us as we’re watching TV, seeing Afghanistan collapse in a weekend.
We feel bad and confused and outraged, but we can only sit helplessly watching the TV. And what the White House tries to spoon feed us is Biden stranded at a big table staring at a TV screen. Biden should have been sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office facing us, speaking directly, explaining, comforting, demonstrating that he is the President.
Why didn’t we get that? Is it that no one noticed that it would be a good idea — it’s what’s expected, it’s what other Presidents would do? Did they just have no idea what would be appropriate to say or fear that anything they say will be used against them in the political discourse and that leadership must wait until partisan interests show the way? Or is it that Joe Biden wasn’t in a presentable mental state over the weekend and had to be kept off video camera? It had to be a still. Prop him up in a chair. That’s the best we can do. Look! He’s working. He’s alive. His eyes are open. Isn’t that enough?
This morning I’m seeing, “White House weighs response as Biden faces mounting criticism over Afghanistan crisis/Democrats on Capitol Hill and former Obama administration officials joined Republicans over the weekend in publicly criticizing the president’s handling of the situation” (NBC News). The White House is doing the best it can.
White House officials were discussing how Biden should address the Taliban’s rapid rise to power, a senior administration official said late Sunday, acknowledging there is a sense that the American people wanted to hear from the president. Biden could make a speech from the White House early this week, but no final decision had been made….
It’s not even Biden who’s “weighing” what the hell to do. Just “White House officials.” And they’re just acknowledging we’d like “to hear from” the President. He could make a speech. Maybe tomorrow. Or the next day. Haven’t really finalized the plan yet….