‘Who’s Zoomin’ Who?’ Joe Biden stays away from East Palestine
Salena Zito
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EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Late Friday afternoon, as President Joe Biden was departing the White House for Wilmington, Delaware, he was asked by a reporter if he had plans to visit this Columbiana County village.
“Will you go to East Palestine, Ohio? Are you planning to travel to East Palestine, Ohio?” he was asked.
“At this point, I’m not,” Biden said. “I did a whole video — I mean, um, what the hell — on…” Biden said, struggling to find the right words before another reporter jumped in and saved him.
“Zoom?” the reporter asked.
“Zoom! Zoom. All I can hear every time I think of Zoom is that song of my generation,‘Who’s Zoomin’ Who?’” he joked about the Aretha Franklin dance-pop song about checking someone out in the bar scene in 1985.
When pressed, Biden said, “Guys, wait, wait, wait. Let me answer the question.”
“The answer is that I had a long meeting with my team as to what they’re doing. … So, I’m keeping very close tabs on it. We’re doing all we can,” he said.
Nearly one month after 38 freight cars derailed a two-mile-long train operated by Norfolk Southern, Biden has largely avoided discussing the wreck that unleashed a variety of chemicals here, including highly toxic vinyl chloride, into the air, soil, and water.
When asked, local and state officials in both Ohio and Pennsylvania, including Mayor Trent Conaway, said they have not participated in a Zoom call with Biden. Some said they have had calls with the White House but nothing on Zoom. Conaway, who is dealing with the burden of this disaster day in and day out, has never even once heard from the president.
A request for confirmation from the White House press office on whether or not Biden at least Zoomed with some local officials, or even a group of people from East Palestine, was not answered.
One of Biden’s great gifts has always been his empathetic touch — a gift that former President Donald Trump never had. But what Trump has always had was a keen understanding of the need to show up — that place meant something to people.
To come to East Palestine would be an easy lift for the president. The flight from Washington, D.C., to Pittsburgh or Youngstown would take 30 minutes, plus a quick drive from either airport.
Youngstown State University professor Paul Sracic explained that when disasters strike, it can take weeks, months, or even years before life returns to normal.
“In the meantime, people need reassurance — they need to know that they are seen and not invisible,” Sracic said. “That’s why presidents visit disaster zones.”
The president is the face of the vast, anonymous federal bureaucracy. And when a president visits, even for a few hours, people know that he knows they are there.
“No Zoom call is going to replicate the first-hand assessment by a president,” Sracic said. “No Zoom call is going to reassure people that the president understands the gravity of the situation on the ground. In some ways, it’s cruel of Biden not to visit.”
East Palestinian Chris McManus put her head in her hands when she heard the news. “He just doesn’t care,” she said. There was no political rant, just sadness.
It’s not as if Biden is unaware of his role. Just last month, he visited California after devastating floods and mudslides hit that state.
A Zoom video call, assuming it can be confirmed that it happened, seems like a pretty dispassionate and disinterested way of communicating with people facing a life-changing event through no fault of their own.
All people want Biden to do is show up and let them know he cares. That he chooses not to has had a crushing emotional impact on people who have suffered a profound loss. Unless you have spent time here listening to people, it is hard to properly convey how this toxic spill has robbed them of the future they had anticipated, their stability, and their health. They will never be able to sell their homes now, nor will they ever feel secure about their livelihoods or health.
“Pain can often turn into political anger,” Sracic said. “Can the people of East Palestine be blamed for wondering how their situation is different from California? Was it because the events in California gave Biden a chance to link the event to climate change, always a good talking point against Republicans? Was it because of Biden’s role in forcing a settlement on railroad workers? Worse, was it because California is a blue state, whereas East Palestine is in deep red Columbiana County in Ohio?”
By his actions, Biden is confirming what people who did not vote for him have feared to be true but always hoped wasn’t: Elite Democrats see them as disposable and want nothing to do with them.
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There is no “Joey” or “Scranton Joe” anymore. Biden is no different from the elite Democratic politicians who have left behind these former Democratic voters for the coalition of the ascendant — millennials, college-educated whites, and minorities. These are the people candidate Barack Obama said were “bitter, clinging to guns or religion,” whom candidate Hillary Clinton called “deplorable” and Biden himself said were “a clear and present danger” to democracy just last fall.
His indifference is no different from the one Norfolk Southern showed in the weeks it took them to finally show up. Although the CEO did only meet with a handful of people, he at least didn’t just Zoom them. We are still waiting to hear from the White House exactly whom Biden did Zoom.