LOST CREEK | In Lost Creek, Kentucky, Joe Biden promised victims of the devastating floods that their lives would be rebuilt and sought to deliver a message of optimism to this disadvantaged region and the rest of a country extremely divided in three months of crucial elections send for his presidency.
• Also read: Kentucky flood death toll rises to 35
Bad weather has claimed at least 37 lives here. The President’s convoy drove through streets devastated by the violence of the elements, with trees shattered, school buses strewn like toys on the ground, and parts of houses scattered to the four winds.
But after visiting victims, the 79-year-old Democrat said the natural disaster was an opportunity to strengthen social ties.
“Everyone has an obligation to help,” he said.
“I promise you we will stay here, (we) the federal government, alongside the state (of Kentucky) and the county and the city, we will stay until everyone is back in their places. I mean it,” added the president, who is trying to promote unity at a time when the gap between Democrats and Republicans is so wide they are barely able to speak to each other.
But Joe Biden believes in his lucky star.
Until a few weeks ago, he was considered a lame duck who couldn’t keep his promises. Today he is celebrating a string of achievements, such as the likely passage of his grand climate and health plan and the US operation that killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
After spending nearly two weeks in isolation due to Covid and the November midterm election fast approaching, the President intends to work harder.
“change” soon
In Lost Creek, the man, who himself experienced several personal tragedies, comforted grieving Americans, hugged adults, clapped a toddler’s hand and told a young boy whose home was destroyed that he would one day become President of the United States himself.
Then, in the scorching heat, sweat on his blue shirt, Joe Biden delivered a political speech aimed at a deeply divided America.
The president said a survivor humbly told him that the people of Kentucky “didn’t want to ask too much.”
But the people of Kentucky “are Americans,” said Mr. Biden. “It happened in America, it’s an American problem.”
“So I don’t want a guy from Kentucky to say, ‘You don’t have to do this for me,'” the president pointed out.
“Yes, yes, we have to do that. You are an American citizen. We never give up, we never quit, we never bend, we never bend. We just keep going,” he said.
With that message of unity, Mr. Biden was elected to replace Republican Donald Trump, and with the same message, he hopes to rally votes for the midterm elections and perhaps keep Congress in the hands of his camp.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat in a predominantly Republican state who overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump in 2020, held a similar narrative.
The tragedy that has struck the region, he said, has caused residents “to lean on one another at a difficult time” without distinguishing between “Democrats and Republicans.”
And Republican lawmaker Hal Rogers praised Mr Biden, saying he was “doing what he could to ease the pain”.
But is the rest of America listening to the President, whose approval ratings are at an all-time low?
“The fact is, we’ve been divided for a long time,” said Mr. Biden when asked by AFP why his message didn’t seem to cut through the thick layer of skepticism of his opponents.
But “I think you’re going to see a lot of changes,” assured this perennial optimist.