OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Joe Biden joked this week that he goes back home to Delaware every chance he gets.
While speaking at an event in Ohio to promote the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law and its $1 billion in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Biden admitted that he takes every opportunity to visit his home state.
“Before I begin, I want to just point out, I was having — just sitting and talking with [Marcia Fudge, former Ohio Congresswoman and current director of the Department of Housing and Urban Development], and she said something that reminded me of what I miss as well. She said, ‘it’s so good to be home in Ohio.’ No, I really mean it. And I said, ‘you’re probably the only one that understands that every time I get a chance, I go home to Delaware.’ You think I’m joking. I’m not,” Biden said.
“I represented Delaware for 36 years as a United States Senator, and just like most Congressional districts, the good news is the bad news: everybody knows you,” Biden added, leaning into the microphone at his podium.
A clip of the moment was shared to Twitter by Chad Gilmartin, former Principal Assistant Press Secretary and Special Assistant to former President Donald Trump. The response from conservatives was unified.
“Every time I get a chance I go home to Delaware. You think I’m joking, I’m not.”
–Biden in Ohio pic.twitter.com/zpbAzIbDQC
— Chad Gilmartin (@ChadGilmartinCA) February 17, 2022
According to numerous reports, Biden wasn’t “joking” that he goes home as often as he can.
A report from the New York Post found that Biden spent 28% of his first year in office, totaling at least 101 days, in Delaware, almost always at his house in Wilmington or the Biden family’s vacation home in Rehoboth Beach.
“Generally speaking, the American people have a right to know what the president is up to. This president specifically changed policy to presumably disclose who’s been visiting the White House,” said Tom Fitton, president of conservative legal group Judicial Watch, which for years has battled for White House visitor log transparency.
“The decision to keep secret who is visiting Delaware makes a mockery of that transparency. It turns it into a joke,” Fitton said.
“Biden spent at least part of 101 days of his first year in office in Delaware — almost always at either his primary residence in Wilmington or his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach. Despite vowing to lead the most transparent administration yet, Biden is increasingly taking flak for being out of public view while giving fewer interviews and press conferences than predecessors. He will give his second solo White House press conference Wednesday — the final day of his first year in office,” the New York Post.
Earlier this week, GOP Sen. Roger Marshall said that if Republicans win back congressional majorities during the November midterms, they may try to force Biden to submit to an annual cognitive mental fitness test.
He went on to say that “maybe we need to be proactive” in terms of asking Biden to take “some type of a mental test” annually, perhaps when he takes his yearly physical.
“I think that may be something else that we’ll be looking on, that [Kentucky GOP Sen.] Rand Paul and I’ll be discussing, [Ohio GOP Rep.] Jim Jordan again, seeing if we think that’s something that America deserves,” Marshall said. “I think we’re all very concerned about his health, and it is a national security issue.”
