Unrest poses challenge for Biden to break through
Joe Biden is facing some stiff competition in getting his campaign message out.
US President Donald Trump spent much of the weekend using Twitter as a bullhorn to urge “law and order” and tougher action by police against protesters around the country.
Biden quietly visited the site of protests in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, and talked to some of the demonstrators.
Earlier, he wrote a post on Medium expressing empathy for those despairing about the killing of George Floyd.
That low-key, high-touch approach may be a sign of how the presumptive Democratic nominee presents himself in the five months before the presidential election, emphasising calm and competence as a contrast to a mercurial president.
It is an approach that carries the risk of being drowned out by the much louder, more persistent voice of Trump.
On one of the most profound weekends the nation has seen, with violence in dozens of cities, Biden was out of wide public view.
“He’s not in office, and he certainly does not have the megaphone like the person currently occupying the White House does, but I do think our people are looking for someone who can make them feel better during these extremely tough times,” said Rep Val Demings of Florida, whom Biden is considering as a running mate.
On Sunday, his campaign released a photo of him visiting the site of protests in Wilmington. Biden, wearing a mask, knelt down to talk to a man and a young child.
“The only way to bear this pain is to turn all that anguish to purpose,” Biden wrote in a message attached to the photo.
“And as President, I will help lead this conversation – and more importantly, I will listen.”
Much of Biden’s campaign strategy centres on trying to draw a contrast with Trump on temperament and values. He’s called the White House contest a battle for the soul of the nation and has been particularly forceful in condemning Trump’s handling of moments of racial tension.
Trump has alternated between expressing alarm over Floyd’s death and sympathy for his family and issuing tweets antagonising protesters and disparaging his political enemies.
And in an election that is likely to be a referendum on the sitting president, some Biden aides say privately that the best plan may be to let Trump do himself in.