Biden has always shot from the hip and spoken from his heart. As we all know, it occasionally gets him in trouble.
It was something the Obama people asked him to work on as VP and Biden respected that. It was Obama’s presidency and not his, so he needed to be careful to keep on the message Obama wanted. And he did pretty well at it.
One time he failed was when he spoke out in favor of gay marriage before Obama wanted him to.
Another big time was when he spoke about a public health risk.
On April 30th 2009, Biden appeared on the Today show in the midst of a severe national flu outbreak. In addition to the heavy case load, people were worried because there was a gene variant in it that made it resistant to Tamiflu. In addition, avian flu and swine flu were starting to show up around the world and had popped up in some US cities.
Now, Obama and his staff took this very seriously and were monitoring the situation and listening to scientists and other experts and planning the best ways to deal with it based on the data. They addressed it very well. Obama gave people great advice about hand washing and covering their mouths when they coughed and staying home when they were sick. He wanted to help people, monitor the science, and also keep people calm and well informed.
So back to the Today Show. Matt Lauer pushed Biden on why the US hadn’t closed the border with Mexico. Biden carefully explained that the science didn’t warrant it and they went back and forth.
Then Lauer asked him “if a member of your family came to you and said ‘look, I want to go on a commercial airliner to Mexico and back within the next week’ would you think it was a good idea?”
And this is where Biden went off script. Joe Biden couldn’t mislead the American public about what he would tell his family — what he thought they should tell their families. Biden doesn’t have that in him. He said “I would tell members of my family, and I have, I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now. It’s not that it’s going to Mexico, It’s you’re in a confined aircraft. when one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft.”
The White House staff was furious with Biden (not Obama, he was unfazed) and they worked overtime to get people out to contradict Biden’s statement and say it wasn’t what he really meant.
But it was what he meant. Biden was telling his family to stay off planes while the outbreak was really bad and spreading and there was no way he was going to tell the American people to tell their families anything else.
Joe Biden will care about our lives as much as he cares about the lives of the people he loves most. He will never lie to us or jeopardize our healthy to keep himself politically safe.
Joe Biden will be a great president
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This is Day 60 in my series 100 Days of Loving Joe Biden
Did you miss any of the 100 days? Here are links for all of them:
Day 1: Biden’s Tax Plan
Day 2: Biden and Gay Marriage
Day 3: Biden’s FDR Sized presidency
Day 4: Biden is a mensch
Day 5: Biden has a Covid-19 plan
Day 6: Biden ran the Obama economic recovery
Day 7: Biden’s Housing Plan
Day 8: Biden knows love and commitment
Day 9: Biden knows exactly who Republicans are
Day 10: Biden understands America
Day 11: Biden will bring smart, progressive policies to help Americans
Day 12: Biden has felt pain and found empathy
Day 13: Biden and the Violence Against Women Act
Day 14: Biden was endorsed by John Lewis
Day 15: Biden will protect teacher’s unions
Day 16: Biden will be a steady hand in the White House
Day 17: Biden cares about people in the dawn and twilight of life
Day 18 Biden has a great economic plan
Day 19: Biden would yank the Keystone XL Pipeline
Day 20: Biden has plans to help Americans with disabilities
Day 21: Biden sponsored the very first climate bill when in the senate
Day 22: Biden is a person of great character
Day 23: Biden has a great plan for saving the planet
Day 24: Biden has a great healthcare plan
Day 25: Biden will increase housing equality
Day 26: Biden loves dogs
Day 27: Biden has foreign policy swag
Day 28: Biden will work to increase the minimum wage to $15
Day 29: Biden will stand against gun violence
Day 30: Biden will protect, empower, and expand unions
Day 31: Biden knows commitment, love, and patience
Day 32: Biden is a person of faith
Day 33: Biden will listen to experts
Day 34: Biden will protect and expand social security
Day 35: Biden picked Kamala Harris
Day 36: Biden has an expansive plan to empower Latinos
Day 37: Biden will address income inequality in his economic agenda
Day 38: Biden will protect at risk communities from climate change
Day 39: Biden has great pro-worker plans for his presidency
Day 40: Biden was for civil rights before civil rights were cool
Day 41: Biden has a childcare plan to help parents and children
Day 42: Biden will reboot our foreign policy
Day 43: Biden is a genuinely kind man
Day 44: Biden takes the steps to help people
Day 45: Biden protected us from a SC justice Bork
Day 46: Biden is not afraid to take the side of good over evil
Day 47: Biden hates bullies
Day 48: Biden has a plan to protect veterans and their families
Day 49: Biden refuses to define others by their biggest mistakes
Day 50: Biden has a great infrastructure plan
Day 51: Biden will keep ALL Americans safe
Day 52: Biden will bring us first lady Jill Biden
Day 53: Biden’s age and experience gives him the perspective needed to handle the ups and downs of the White House
Day 54: Biden showed empathy, humility, and wisdom in Kenosha
Day 55: Biden supports the women and men who protect our country.
Day 56: Biden values family
Day 57: Biden’s No Malarkey Attitude will be great for foreign policy
Day 58: Biden knows how to get votes when we need them to pass important legislation. He did it as a Senator and as VP and he will do it as President.