Sherman R. Frederick/Properly Subversive

When the New York Times reports on Joe Biden’s failures in the response to Hurricane Helene victims, you know there’s probably a lot more to it. You don’t have to be familiar with reading the tea leaves of the Old Grey Lady, however, to know the words “nimble” and “proactive” aren’t ever used to describe this fumbling White House. 

The Biden crew has been caught flat-footed on all breaking events, foreign or domestic. This pandemic-era crew are hardly ever in the office together, they’ve been chosen not because they are the best, but because they checked a box or knew Hunter Biden, and on those rare occasions when the president pokes his head out to address the people, he seems to be in a perpetual reaction mode, disconnected from what his people on the ground are doing.

Our first glimpse came in the withdrawal from Afghanistan. It was a Grade A clusterfu*k in full view of all. We saw it with the clips of American and American supporters panicked at the prospect of being left behind. In the end, thousands were left behind and 13 soldiers were killed in a bombing that was preventable. 

In 2023, who can forget how nonchalant the Biden government appeared at the train wreck that spewed deadly chemicals into the town of East Palestine, Ohio. 

Now the response is again slow for hurricane victims, like the little girl shown above. 

Both President Biden and Vice President toured the damage and rescue efforts only at mid-week, a full seven days after the storm hit. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump was on the scene in Georgia last Friday. I don’t care if you are blood related to Joe Biden, you gotta admit that’s embarrassing.

It was only until Mr. Trump grabbed national attention by bringing truck loads of supplies to the storm ravaged areas, did the Biden White House begin to stir. I’m not saying federal workers were not responding, I’m saying leadership was AWOL. 

President Biden, who rarely shows up for work at the White House anymore, was at his beach house. 

Think about that for a minute. 

He’s unnecessarily aware from the command center as the storm hammers citizens and the world is on tip-toe as Israel fends off 180+ missiles lobbed at them by Iran. He should have been in the situation room with America’s brain trust, such as they are, to deal with these events. 

That’s what a serious, energetic leader would do. 

VP Harris’ performance was worse. She’s young and physically able. But she put her campaign above her job. She fundraised 2,000 miles away. Her instincts were to eat crackers and cheese and chit-chat with big donors willing to give her a check. 

But I digress. Back to the New York Times reporting. 

The newspaper on Thursday (Oct. 3) reported FEMA’s response was slow and not fully prepared to deal with minority communities. Here’s the headline: 

Aid Is Slow to Reach Some Latino Areas in Storm-Hit North Carolina

Language and other barriers are hobbling the flow of assistance to hard-hit communities where affordable housing drew growing numbers of Hispanic migrants.

The Times reports that this particular immigrant community “remain(s) without flushing water or reliable cellphone service on Thursday, and electricity remains spotty.”

Somehow both Biden or Harris failed to get around to visit that community. It would make for a bad photo op.

This is more than a casual rant on leadership instincts. This is another real reminder that the Biden/Harris team isn’t up to the job and hasn’t been up to the job from Day One. And, we still have three and half months of this nightmare to go.

Look, hurricane season happens every freakin’ year and this Administration hasn’t even planned well enough to have enough Spanish speaking rescue workers to insure the success of the mission.

That’s bad.

Hard to see it any other way and still still look yourself in the mirror in the morning.

(You can read more of Sherm’s work at shermanfredrick.substack.com.)