Joe Biden isn’t reactive enough to be president
At tragic moments, like the deadly fires in Hawaii, our nation expects the president to speak to all of us and for all of us. The task is not a political one. He is not being asked to speak as the head of a political party or even the head of government. Those moments will come later. During a national tragedy, he needs to speak for the whole nation as its “head of state.” President Roosevelt famously did that on December 8, 1941, referring to the bombing of Pearl Harbor previous day as a “date which will live in infamy” President Reagan did it after the Challenger disaster, a brilliant and touching memorial to the astronauts who died.
