In one of his final acts as president, Joe Biden will travel to New Orleans on Monday to console the families grieving loved ones lost in the horrific new year’s attack. With less than two weeks remaining in his term, the 82-year-old leader who has known immense personal tragedy himself will offer the balm of presidential empathy to a city still reeling in shock.
A Grim but Intimate Presidential Duty
Comforting Americans amid catastrophe is an inevitable part of the job for any president. But it’s a task that Biden, with his own history of devastating losses, has not shied away from. His wife and infant daughter died in a car crash shortly after he was first elected to the Senate in 1972. Four decades later, his eldest son Beau succumbed to brain cancer.
So when Biden meets with victims’ families, as he so often has after mass shootings and other calamities, his words of condolence carry the weight of someone who truly understands their agony.
There’s nothing you can really say to somebody that’s just had such a tragic loss. My message is going to be personal if I get to get them alone.
President Joe Biden
Seeking Healing Amid the Horror
The attack in the heart of New Orleans’ famed French Quarter neighborhood killed 14 people and wounded 30 more. The attacker, identified as Texas resident and army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, plowed his truck into a crowd of revelers before being fatally shot by police.
Jabbar posted videos prior to the attack proclaiming allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group. But Biden forcefully dismissed swirling conspiracy theories, insisting the intelligence community determined Jabbar acted completely alone.
Lives Lost, a City Heartbroken
The victims, ranging in age from 18 to 63, hailed from Louisiana and several other states as well as Great Britain. As a stunned city lays them to rest and begins the long road to recovery, Biden will aim to provide solace and support.
After meeting privately with families, the president will likely reiterate his message that healing after such an unfathomable trauma takes time, but is possible with love and togetherness. It’s guidance rooted not in political talking points, but in the wisdom of a man who has walked through the valley of grief, and emerged to lead a nation.
