Cheryl Magness writes for the Federalist about the significance of a recent unscripted exchange between President Biden and an Irish boy.
It was the most basic of questions a child might ask a world leader, and Joe Biden couldn’t answer it: “What’s the top step to success?”
Biden was at the Dublin Airport during his “roots” tour in Ireland when a schoolboy posed the question to him. His first answer revealed his cluelessness.
“Oh, well, making sure that we don’t all have Covid. What … are we talking about here?”
Hunter Biden’s attempt to clarify by rephrasing the question for his father — “What’s the key to success?” — didn’t help.
“I’m not sure I’m the best guy to explain it,” Biden said, before launching into a convoluted story about getting along with people you disagree with from his days in the Senate. The next student, another obviously bright, up-and-coming mind, decided to lower the bar for the hapless American president by asking him how his dog is doing.
“What’s the top step to success?”
It’s a softball question for a president if ever there was one. An intelligent, inquisitive young school child provided Biden with a golden moment, a moment other U.S. presidents of the recent past — Reagan, Clinton, Bush (take your pick), Obama — would have relished. …
… But even better than the pop psychology responses above would have been a short version of something called the “Success Sequence.” As explained by the Institute of Family Studies, the “Success Sequence” consists of three steps that, if followed, drastically increase one’s chances of having a happy, prosperous life:
*Graduate from high school.
*Get and hold a job.
*Don’t have children until you get married. …
… The latest research shows that 97% of young people who follow all three steps are not poor as adults. And 90% of young adults who complete the first two steps (graduate high school and get a full-time job) are not poor in their 30s. In comparison, half of adults in their 30s who missed all three steps (52%) are in poverty.”
