DEAR EDITOR: Politics is everywhere, and many decisions elected officials make have at least a degree of political consideration.
However, this country has a rich tradition of putting aside political differences in the face of disaster and tragedy. Unfortunately, among the divisive rhetoric of the Biden Administration, who calls their opponents “extremists” and even “semi-fascists,” this point seems to have been lost.
On February 3, 2023, the disaster in East Palestine rocked not only the community, but the country at large. Journalists, elected officials, government agencies, and humanitarian groups all quickly responded to give this disaster the attention it deserves.
It seems the only person who was not willing to help was Joe Biden. Rather than taking time away from his many vacations to help the people of East Palestine, he made vague promises of visiting “at some point.”
Now it is a year later, with a Presidential Election less than a year away, and Biden has now decided to come in at the 11th hour for his campaign photo op. As an Ohioan from the completely opposite side of the state (Hamilton County), it is devastating to watch the way this President is now trying to resuscitate his collapsed presidency for political expedience at the expense of people in northeast Ohio.
It is well known that East Palestine is a largely conservative area of the state. The Commander-and-Chief should have been able to set that fact aside to help people in need in a timely manner.
Despite this half-hearted attempt to save face, this is clearly just another failure from the most divisive President of my lifetime.