USA Today columnist Jill Lawrence argued President Biden looking for a deceased congresswoman in the audience of a White House conference Wednesday should not be viewed as a gaffe, but rather a sign of Biden’s “generosity and professionalism.”
THE QUOTE
Lawrence acknowledged in an essay published yesterday that Biden calling out for the late Rep. Jackie Walorski, “seemed like a memory fail — a particularly embarrassing one.”
- However, according to Lawrence, what the incident truly reveals about Biden is his basic decency.
- “Biden was trying to credit the late Indiana Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski — a lawmaker who voted on Jan. 6, 2021, to object to his presidential victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania and who this March labeled his agenda ‘radical & reckless’ — for her good work on nutrition and hunger,” she wrote.
- “It’s unfortunate that he made the mistake,” she continued. “At the same time, it demonstrated a generosity and professionalism that was also present in Biden’s Tuesday conversation with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a frequent and harsh Biden critic, as Hurricane Ian bore down on his state.”
Questions continue to swirl about whether the 79-year-old Biden has lost a step or two: A Politico/Morning Consult poll released in November found that a plurality of Americans do not think the president is mentally fit.