The First Lady (of the US) plays an important role because she is seen as an extension of the President, but above politics. Aside from supporting her husband, her role is to champion forgotten causes.
A few First Ladies had a certain je ne sais quoi. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy comes to mind – she who redecorated the White House with the help of Henry du Pont. Others contributed to improving the lives of ordinary citizens without a voice. And some bit off more than they could chew – think Hillary Clinton and her failed healthcare reform. However, to the best of this writer’s knowledge, every one of them supported their husbands and none – think Nancy Reagan – would countenance any besmirching of their husbands as the President. And who can forget the inimitable Eleanor Roosevelt – the eyes and ears of the infirm President FDR – who was head and shoulders above any First Lady, before or after her…
Unfortunately, Jill Biden shows that she is not even close to the former First Ladies.
Without doubt, she supported Joe Biden during his first term as President but, having done her best to salvage her husband’s dignity during his term, that’s where her support should have ended. She is savvy enough to know that his cognitive decline has passed the point of embarrassment.
One cannot help feeling sad, watching a couple of his press conferences. In June 2021, just months into his term, President Biden whispered into the microphone, ‘I got them 1.9 trillion dollars … I wrote the Bill … on the environment.’ In September 2022, he called out for US Representative Jackie Walorski, who had died in a car accident a month earlier. And who can forget him turning to exit stage left instead of right, with Kamala Harris looking on, aghast?
Jill could not prevent his cognitive decline and endured the taunts levelled at him because it went with the territory. However, she should have called time on his re-election campaign back in 2022, to head off the inevitable. What loving wife would stomach the headline of a strong left-wing daily in Australia, Trump monstered Biden, following his disastrous performance in the Presidential debate? Then there was The Washington Post, June 29, 2024, reporting on Jill speaking to about 60 people about his performance: ‘What my husband does know how to do is tell the truth,’ she continued. ‘When he gets knocked down, Joe gets back up, and that’s what we’re doing today.’ (Ed – Seriously?). ‘MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, the host of one of Biden’s favourite morning shows and often his staunchest defender, called for Biden to drop out of the race. So did New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, a personal friend of the president.’ A day earlier, The Washington Post reported, ‘The New York Times editorial board on Friday called on President Biden to abandon his re-election campaign after his widely criticised performance in the first 2024 debate against former President Donald Trump.’
Jill should have informed the Democrats back in 2022 that Biden would not be running in 2024 and there should the story have ended. She was in control; he wasn’t. Her willingness to permit her husband, holding the world’s most powerful office, to be ridiculed and asked to drop out of the race by his staunch allies, raises both eyebrows and questions.
A First Lady puts the interests of the President before her own. The power she wields must be tempered with her fierce love and devotion to her husband, with an eye on preserving his legacy. Will the Presidential Library of Joe Biden actually document his cognitive decline? History will decide whether Jill’s status as First Lady overpowered her judgment. As First Lady, Jill Biden scores an F.
