While the press is full of stories about how badly President Biden performed at last week’s debate with ex-president Trump, I believe that the big mistake was in Trump not extending an olive branch to Biden and showing a bit of humanity. Biden was in need of a helping hand, and Trump should have extended it.
I will admit I am a fan of Joe Biden. I think he is a real mensch, and he has made it possible for us to fight the war with Hamas by providing an unending supply of weaponry to the IDF even though, from time to time, some much-needed assistance has been restricted. I also believe that if it were not for him, we would not have been able to successfully conduct the war, and many more of us would have died as a result.
When I think of Joe Biden, I am reminded of Rabbi Michael Beals of Temple Beth El in Newark, Delaware, who recounts that in 2003, he was a young rabbi, brand-new to Delaware, on his way to lead a Shiva minyan (mourning prayer quorum) for a recently deceased individual by the name of Mrs. Greenhouse. She had lived in rent-controlled senior housing in an apartment too small to fit everyone, so he conducted the minyan in the building’s communal laundry room, in the basement of the high-rise.
Toward the end of the service, a door at the back of the laundry room opened, and who walked in but then-senator Joe Biden, his head lowered, all by himself? Biden stood quietly in the back of the room for the duration of the service. At the end of the service, Beals walked over to him and asked the same question that must have been on everyone else’s mind: “Senator Biden, what are you doing here?”
He replied, “Listen, back in 1972, when I first ran for Senate, Mrs. Greenhouse gave $18 to my first campaign. Because that’s what she could afford. And every six years, when I’d run for reelection, she’d give another $18. She did it her whole life. I’m here to show my respect and gratitude.”
There were no news outlets at the service that day, no Jewish reporters or important dignitaries. Just a few elderly mourners in a basement laundry room. Joe Biden didn’t come to that service for political gain. He came to that service because he has character. He came to that service because he’s a mensch.
Fast forward to early 2012. I had just undergone spinal surgery and was in Washington, DC, in a wheelchair as Israel’s representative to then secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s Economic Diplomacy Summit, along with representatives of 180 other countries with whom the US had diplomatic relations. At the cocktail party on the afternoon of the first day of the conference, then-vice president Biden addressed the assembled, after which, as he is wont to do, he worked the crowd.
The State Department employee who was pushing me around moved the wheelchair up to the rope that separated the vice president from the crowd. As he approached, I started to get out of the chair, at which point he looked at me and asked, “What are you doing?” I told him that my mother taught me to rise in the company of people of national stature. He said, “Stay where you are. I’m coming to you.”
He then bent down, and we spoke for a minute or two. One could see the excitement on his face when he learned that I was from Israel. He spent the remaining time with me extolling the virtues of our wonderful country. A mensch in every way possible, to be sure.
Trump should show voters he is capable of sensitivity
LAST WEEK, during the debate, he clearly was not in his best form. He was forgetful; he stumbled over words, lost his train of thought, and mixed up events. For me, it was extremely painful to watch, even though I was impressed that someone his age was able to stand there for 90 minutes. I am just a few years older and can no longer do that.
But it did open up an opportunity for Trump to display the humanity that many people wonder if he possesses. To be specific, 30 minutes into the debate, Trump, realizing that Biden was below zero on performance that evening, could have walked across the stage, put his arm around Biden, and said, “Joe, I know you are suffering with a cold, and this is not your best night. We don’t have to do this tonight. Why don’t we just stop now and tell the moderators and CNN to reschedule this for a later date, when you are feeling up to par?”
I agree; it would have been extremely out of the ordinary, perhaps wildly out of character for Trump, and totally unexpected by everyone, least of all by Biden. But, besides being a thoughtful thing to do, it would have boosted Trump’s image as a human being with greater sensitivity than most people, even his supporters, expect from him.
People will read this and say I am seeking unreachable goals. My response is that of Indian businessperson Azim Premji, the former chairperson of Wipro Limited, who said, “If people are not laughing at your goals, your goals are too small.” At the end of the day, setting high goals is what makes life worthwhile for all of us.
The writer has lived in Israel for 40 years and is the founder and chair of Atid EDI Ltd., an international business development consultancy.
He is also the founder and chair of the American State Offices Association, former national president of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel, and a past chairperson of the board of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies.