A POLITICAL DECISION: JOE BIDEN ENDS HIS SILENCE. In today’s political culture, we expect the president of the United States to comment on significant events. But President Joe Biden can sometimes be oddly silent, even on matters of clear national importance. In early 2023, for example, Biden let weeks go by before publicly commenting on the devastating train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Many people in public life, especially Republicans, asked the president simply to acknowledge that the derailment occurred, but Biden, fearing that his administration’s safety agencies would be blamed for failing to prevent the accident, stayed silent.

Lately, Biden has been quiet on the troubling growth of anti-Israel protests on college campuses. Big institutions like Columbia University, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been hit hard. More than 2,000 protesters have been arrested, and there have been many angry scenes. As all sides expected the protests to grow and feared that the ugliness might worsen, many wanted to hear from Biden. But the president remained silent.