‘Where’s Jackie?’ Joe Biden Asks For Dead Congresswoman In Yet Another ‘Oops’ Moment

US President Joe Biden and his tryst with gaffes is not new. The latest one creating a buzz online is his remarks referring to recently deceased congresswoman Jackie Walorski.

Addressing a conference on hunger, nutrition and health in Washington on Wednesday, Biden thanked a bipartisan group of lawmakers who pushed the White House to organize the event. During the event, he also thanked Walorski, who helped in organising the conference, as if she were still alive.

“I want to thank all of you here, including bipartisan elected officials like Representative McGovern, Senator Braun, Senator Booker, Representative Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie? I think she was going to be here — to help make this a reality,” Biden said during the conference.

Walorski, a Republican representative from Indiana died in a car accident on August 3. She, along with the three other lawmakers, had introduced the legislation last year to convene the hunger conference. The congresswoman was co-chair of the House Hunger Caucus dedicated to fighting food insecurity in the United States.

At the time of her death, Biden had issued a statement saying that he and first lady Jill Biden were “shocked and saddened” by the news of her passing away.

Biden has said that although he and Walorski may have represented different parties and disagreed on many issues, but “she was respected by members of both parties for her work on the House Ways and Means Committee on which she served.”

“…my team and I appreciated her partnership as we plan for a historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health this fall that will be marked by her deep care for the needs of rural America,” the statement added.

Biden and Gaffes

Biden, 79, the oldest president in US history had several such “oops” moments in 20 months since his inauguration. The American President’s verbal stumble and overblown claims have caused difficult situations for staffers who later have to clean things up.

During his 2022 trip to the Middle East, Biden in a verbal slip said he honours the “bravery and selfishness” of US troops who served in Iraq.

“For the first time since 9/11, an American president is visiting this region without American troops being engaged … in a combat mission in the region,” Biden said during his address to the Gulf Cooperation Council in Saudi Arabia.

“We’ll always honour the bravery and selfishness — selflessness,” he said, correcting himself. “And sacrifices of the Americans who served, including my son, Major Beau Biden, who was stationed in Iraq for a year.”

Biden’s statement about Putin in Warsaw in March was also quickly walked back by a White House official who said “the President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors” and not a discussion of “regime change.”

The White House has long said that it would be “driven by science” in determining when to end the COVID public health emergency. Biden made his “the pandemic is over” remark on the sidelines of September’s Detroit auto show as hundreds of Americans continue to die of the disease daily.

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