President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visited Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday and went to Robb Elementary School, the scene where 19 school children and two adults were killed by a disturbed 18-year-old gunman, to place flowers at an impromptu memorial in front of the school that featured 21 white crosses — one for each person killed in Tuesday’s shooting.
The visit was just five days after the shooting and it didn’t sit well with everyone in the community as some believed the traveling circus that accompanies a president was a distraction for the parents mourning the loss of their children.
There was also the unpredictability of 79-year-old Biden, whose cognitive skills are not what they once were. Prone to say and do things off the cuff that, in such a taut atmosphere, have the potential to only make matters worse, Biden did just that.
Granted, security was as tight as may be expected under the circumstances, however, as the Bidens departed a church service to go meet privately with the families, the gathered crowd began chanting, “Do something!”
As the president was about to step into the presidential limousine, much to the surprise of the Secret Service agents around him, Biden suddenly stepped on the door entry guard and used it as a platform to rise a good two feet above “The Beast” — creating a target-rich environment — to reply, “We will.”
The sudden anxiety of the Secret Service agent holding the door of the limousine is clear to see as he realizes what is happening:
CNN reported that some parents said “now is not the time for him to come here.”
“Well, I think some people are worried… are concerned about politicizing this event and there, I’ve heard a lot of outrage from people, but I’ve also heard from folks who say, you know, I don’t want to focus on that, on what could have happened, what should’ve happened, I just want to focus on the kids,” Stella Chavez, a reporter for the North Texas NPR outlet KERA News, told the network on air.
In politics, timing is everything and on that note, Biden realized both sides of that coin on Sunday.
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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