Hunter Biden with his dad, Joe Biden
Part of what’s wrong with some folks today…I just see a father who loves his son. My dad had no problem telling me he loved me.
But apparently, some on Twitter think this is ‘awkward.’
The photo was from an interview feature for Popular Mechanics in 2016 between former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter after the death of the vice president’s other son, Beau, to cancer.
Tom Nichols at USA Today gets it right:
It is, in its way, an awkward image. The son looking into the camera, his face calm but haunted. The father’s face is partly hidden, as he embraces his son and puts a kiss on his cheek.
The son is young and strong, and his arms are sturdy as they gently rest around his father. But the father, while old, is even stronger. One arm is in front of his child, the other around the son’s shoulder, as if to hold on to him and to protect him at the same time.
It is a picture of Joe and Hunter Biden, but it would be moving enough were it of any father and son. Even strangers to these men would know what it means. All of us, after all, were once children. (The picture is really a portrait of the son, not the father.)
In this case, to know the circumstances in which it was taken is to know that it is a picture full of pain, love, forgiveness and acceptance, and to look at it for even more than a moment is to experience at least some of those emotions, especially in the memory of our own parents or children.
The answer is yes.
I kiss my son, hug him, hold him tight. Tons of tender moments with my little dude. He’s gonna grow up secure, strong, brave, and he’ll always know that he’s loved. So, yes. Keep holding them tight @JoeBiden. https://t.co/45gAz5njUO— Joshua DuBois (@joshuadubois) October 22, 2020
Are they trying to lose? Joe Biden loves his family too much? What is this? https://t.co/IYTV0QyYf7
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) October 22, 2020
Fellas, is it gay to kiss your only living son on the cheek? https://t.co/gthU9gEo39
— Greg Bennett (@GreggyBennett) October 22, 2020
Does this look like an appropriate father/son interaction to you? pic.twitter.com/XDMIsgjUKI
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) October 22, 2020
Does this look like an appropriate father/son interaction to you? pic.twitter.com/XDMIsgjUKI
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) October 22, 2020
Trump Twitter is having a problem with beautiful pic of a wonderful father loving his son asking if it’s appropriate. It’s more than just appropriate. It’s inspiring & admirable, it shows us fathers how we should love our kids. I respect @JoeBiden even more after seeing this pic. pic.twitter.com/RxYZBzFGmz
— David Weissman (@davidmweissman) October 22, 2020
They have a problem with a father kissing his son on the cheek but not a father grabbing his daughters ass. Ok?? pic.twitter.com/r2kzzdCqG5
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) October 22, 2020
Trump Twitter is having a problem with beautiful pic of a wonderful father loving his son asking if it’s appropriate. It’s more than just appropriate. It’s inspiring & admirable, it shows us fathers how we should love our kids. I respect @JoeBiden even more after seeing this pic. pic.twitter.com/RxYZBzFGmz
— David Weissman (@davidmweissman) October 22, 2020
Does this look like an appropriate father/son interaction to you? pic.twitter.com/XDMIsgjUKI
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) October 22, 2020
