Joe Biden, we keep hearing, is a deeply empathetic man. It is that empathy that brought him to the presidency – his deep and abiding capacity to connect with others. In “What It Takes,” Richard Ben Cramer’s detailed blow-by-blow of the 1988 election cycle, Ben Cramer describes Biden’s ability to “connect” as his greatest supposed skill. This has been the pitch for Biden for decades: not much in the way of brains, not a tremendously resourceful politician, awkward on his feet – but he cares. In the words of Mark Gitenstein, Biden’s 1988 speechwriter and a four-decade advisor, “His ability to communicate with people in pain is maybe his most powerful strength.”
Or maybe, just maybe, Biden was never an empathetic man. Maybe he simply trafficked in ersatz empathy, all the while feeding his own narcissism.
That story certainly looks more plausible these days.
This week, Biden visited Maui. He did so nearly two weeks after the worst wildfire in modern American history…
