Not until this week did I know Joe Biden has been dealing with stuttering all his life. While his speech patterns and hesitations occasionally raise questions about his mental acuity, some of them are actually a result of his stuttering … or efforts to control it. It may be understandable that he hasn’t wanted to make it an issue, but it can explain some things that until now have been used against him by opponents.
What a surprise. A top Democratic contender for the US presidency actually has a human failing. And it’s not his advancing years. Somehow it makes me like him even more.
For the full story see “What Joe Biden Can’t Bring Himself to Say” in The Atlantic.
Speaking of stuttering, we are in the process of watching Ken Burns’ Country Music series that we recorded. One of the segments featured Mel Tillis, a truly nice guy who still stutters. Except when he sings! How surprising is that?
That Joe stuttered does seem somewhat endearing, but I can just imagine Herr Drumpf mocking the defect now. After all, he mocked a disabled reporter and a war hero, so it would be nothing new.
Well, he did stutter. Mel passed away in 2017.
I’ve often heard that stutterers can sing without stuttering (trying to imagine Biden singing…). Biden just hesitates and searches for another word if he needs to. Apparently I’m about the last one to learn about this, but it’s reassuring to know the hesitancy isn’t due to age or ignorance.