The optics of showing up
Joe Biden stood with Zelenskyy in Kyiv. It sent a message.
Pete Buttigieg has not yet gone to East Palestine, Ohio. That sends a message.
Regular readers of this blog are familiar with one of my regular themes: Body language matters.
In fact, body language is nearly all that matters in political communication.
Non-verbal cues tell voters important things: Who a politician is and whose side they are on. The most blunt form of body language is where a politician goes and who he or she stands next to.
Pete Buttigieg is Transportation Secretary and there was a train wreck. The disaster was a political gift on a silver platter and he isn't taking it. A Norfolk Southern train of 141 cars, extending two miles in length, carrying hazardous material, derailed in a working -class Ohio city near the Pennsylvania border. The derailment is a hazard and tragedy for East Palestine, but it is a political opportunity almost too perfect to be true for Democrats.
***A railcar axel on Norfolk Southern's train was quickly diagnosed as the cause of the derailment.
***Norfolk Southern, a significant donor to GOP campaigns, had been lobbying for looser safety regulations. The Trump administration relaxed safety regulations on trains like this one. Prominent Republicans, including Marco Rubio, are on record having urged the Biden administration to further loosen train safety regulations.
***The accident directly affected White working-class people in the Upper Midwest, the area of the country with swing states most likely to determine the next president.
***There are emotionally charged visuals, including smoke, dead fish, and jumbled rail cars.
***There are concerns about the contamination of water, which offers clear reminders of other disasters, from Erin Brockovich's Hinkley, California to lead pipes in Flint, Michigan.
I don't know how it could be easier or better for Pete Buttigieg. The head of the EPA was already there, with people testing air, ground, and water samples. Good. But this isn't just an environmental issue. It is a transportation safety issue. Buttigieg gets to be on camera looking at train tracks and rail cars. He would be criticized for grandstanding and "taking advantage of a disaster." Of course. He gets to respond that the Biden administration cares deeply about the safety of millions of Americans who live near railroad tracks.
Buttigieg hasn't been to East Palestine. The mayor calls it a "slap in the face" that Biden is in Kyiv, not in his town. Buttigieg said he will go to East Palestine "when the time is right."
I am very interested in getting to know the residents of East Palestine, hearing from them about how they’ve been impacted and communicating with them about the steps that we’re taking. . . . But yes, when the time is right, I do plan to visit East Palestine. I don’t have a date for you right now.
Meanwhile, he wrote Norfolk Southern a stern letter telling them they must "demonstrate unequivocal support" for East Palestine.
Norfolk Southern must live up to its commitment to make residents whole — and must also live up to its obligation to do whatever it takes to stop putting communities such as East Palestine at risk. This is the right time for Norfolk Southern to take a leadership position within the rail industry, shifting to a posture that focuses on supporting, not thwarting, efforts to raise the standard of U.S. rail safety regulation.
A stern letter is worse than worthless. One demonstrates unequivocal support by showing up. Not showing up, and writing a letter, demonstrates that something else is more important. Meanwhile, the CEO of Norfolk Southern is there. Erin Brockovich is coming. Donald Trump is coming.
Going there has political risks for Trump for showing up. The Philadelphia Inquirer points out Trump's hypocrisy. But the big, clear, body-language message is not hypocrisy. It is that Trump is in East Palestine and Biden and Buttigieg are not. Trump comes out ahead.
Of all the Democratic aspirants, Buttigieg is the most adept verbally. His tone is confident. He effortlessly slaps away Fox host critics who posit false narratives. But I suspect we are seeing a fundamental weakness in the Buttigieg political package, a weakness common to the very intelligent. They assume people are like themselves, affected by careful words. They underestimate the value of blunt wordless simplicity. Most of the time words are not action. They are the alternative to action.
To show you care, you show you care. You show up.