Biden continues to break campaign promise to show empathy

President Joe Biden, among many broken campaign promises, vowed to be empathetic and show genuine concern for Americans, especially during crises.

But as Washington Examiner columnist Salena Zito recently noted in a piece titled, "From Afghanistan to East Palestine and Hawaii, Biden's pattern of behavior lacks the empathy he promised," the president continues to display behaviors inconsistent with that pledge.

"Empathy matters," he said. "Compassion matters. We have to reach out to one another and heal this country, and that’s what I’ll do as president," Biden said in 2020.

Zito recalled Biden's most recent insensitive display when he was asked by a press pool reporter about the devastating and fatal Maui wildfires, only replying with "no comment."

After a couple hours on the Rehoboth beach, @potus was asked about the rising death toll in Hawaii

“No comment,” he said before heading home pic.twitter.com/Y0UmXirju9

— Justin Sink (@justinsink) August 13, 2023

Like many others, Zito noted that it would have been easy for Biden to say something empathetic to the victims and their families in Hawaii, given that they have faced one of the worst natural disasters on record.

Zito went on to point out Biden's actions after other events, such as the failed Afghanistan troop withdrawal and the Kabul suicide bombing, saying:

Almost to the day two years ago, a chaotic two-week evacuation of 125,000 people from Kabul resulted in the horrific deaths of 13 American service members; it took Biden over a week for him to address the deaths to the public, and when he did in a speech to the nation he spent the entire 23 minutes forcefully rejecting any criticism of his decision and hailed the effort an “extraordinary success.”

"He projected to the American public, and to the families by proxy, a sordid lack of empathy, compassion, and indifference," Zito wrote.

Another recent instance of Biden seemingly not caring about struggling American citizens was in the aftermath of the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment last year.

Zito noted that it took Biden 18 days to even make a public statement regarding the tragic situation, writing:

It wasn’t until Feb. 21that Biden said anything, finally tweeting about the derailment. Biden once again stubbornly refused to concede any morsel of compassion. Even when pressed about when he would visit the site of the derailment and subsequent confirmed burn, he said on Feb. 27 he had no plans to go there.

Biden's many missed opportunities are perplexing, as one would think that one of his handlers in the White House would know how to respond to such situations, if anything for easy positive political public relations points.

But the fact that he hasn't carried through with his early promises is now showing in the polls in a major way, right as he attempts to convince the country to suffer through another four years of his failed administration.

With low approval numbers and looming investigations involving his son Hunter Biden, President Biden has a mountain to climb for the 2024 election.

Biden needs a new crew of advisers and officials and needs to follow through on his promises if he wants a chance at winning next year. Likely, the damage he's done is already too much to overcome.