Empathy — not to be confused with sympathy — is the capacity to understand another person’s point of view and, by extension, their suffering. According to thoughtco.com, “Empathy requires the ability to recognize the suffering of another person from their point of view and to openly share their emotions, including painful distress.”
Successful politicians who are seen as empathetic earn the trust with the public, which transfers to votes at the ballot box.
In 2016, speaking at a memorial service in Dallas, Texas, for five police officers who were killed, George W. Bush said, “At our best, we practice empathy, imagining ourselves in the lives and circumstances of others.”
Running for president, Donald Trump demonstrated his empathy with his supporters by acknowledging their grievances and promising to “Make America Great Again.”
Politico.com stated that President Barack Obama “has made empathy his central governing virtue.” In “The Audacity of Hope,” Obama writes, “A sense of empathy is at the heart of my moral code.”
Former President Bill Clinton was a master at showing empathy, so much so that the words “I feel your pain” — which he told an activist at a rally in 1992 — has entered the popular vernacular.
Empathy is part of President Clinton’s superpower. He demonstrates this by giving everyone who he is talking with his full and undivided attention.
In 1993, early on in Clinton’s presidency, my father, Don, was president of the Missouri Press Association. Part of the MPA president’s duties include visiting Washington D.C. to lobby Missouri representatives.
During that journey, Dad met and shook hands with President Clinton, experiencing Clinton’s superpower in that short meeting. Dad was impressed and returned home, better understanding why Clinton won the election.
Like his predecessors, President Joe Biden campaigned on empathy. He has not lived up to that promise.
Case in point: Biden’s treatment of the families whose sons and daughters were killed in the 2021 suicide bombing at the Afghanistan airport.
Giving her testimony last month to Congress, Cheryl Rex, whose son Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola lost his life at the airport bombing, said she has “never had any personal correspondence” from the president, “nor has my son been honored or his name spoken by this commander-in-chief or his administration on what I feel is because of their failures and poor planning to exit our troops from Afghanistan.”
After this tragedy, Biden compared these deaths to the death of his son Beau, who died of cancer, reportedly saying, “We lost our son as well and brought him home in a flag-draped coffin.” On top of this, President Biden repeatedly checked his watch during the dignified transfer of these fallen soldiers from Afghanistan in front of their parents. Mark Schmitz — whose 20-year-old son, Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, who died in the attack — said, “I found it to be the most disrespectful thing I’ve ever seen.”
These are not examples of empathy.
Biden has also been accused of failing to visit scenes of national tragedies.
Jill Biden, not Joe, visited Waukesha, Wis., three weeks after the November 2021 Christmas parade tragedy where a driver killed six and injured 62. She also met with children who received the Covid-19 vaccination on her trip.
The recent wildfires in Maui that killed 97 is another example of Biden’s callousness. When questioned about the growing death toll, Biden responded, “no comment.” If he didn’t hear the question, as the white house claims, why didn’t he ask the reporter to repeat it? A better explanation is that he is instructed to always respond with “no comment” unless he has been giving the answers on paper to read from.
Two weeks after the wildfires Biden finally made a trip to Maui, where he spent less than 24-hours before returning to his vacation in Lake Tahoe, Nev. After his visit Biden was blasted for comparing the Maui blaze with a kitchen fire in his home, where he claimed, “I almost lost my wife, my ‘67 Corvette and my cat.” That went over like a lead balloon.
After he left the Hawaiian Islands, a business known for humorous signage posted, “Sorry you almost lost your ‘67 Corvette in a fire, Mr. President. Maui strong.” On their Facebook page, they added, “Sympathy is better than contrived empathy. It’s not always about you Mr. President.”
