Joe Biden's decision to break with tradition and not commemorate the anniversary of 9/11 at one of the attack sites or at the White House has not gone over well. His administration's explanation for the move, which cited that other presidents don't visit Pearl Harbor every year, only made matters worse.

The issues didn't stop there, though. On Monday morning, as ceremonies were being held in New York City, the Biden administration put out a social media post praising Saudi Arabia for committing money to one of the president's climate change boondoggles. 

Keep in mind that all of that was before Biden even delivered his 9/11 speech in Alaska, a location he quite clearly chose as a convenient stopover because he valued being in Vietnam more. Well, that speech has been delivered, and it was as embarrassing for the nation as you'd expect. 

The president inexplicably opened his remarks on the solemn day by joking about how he could have been an all-American football player. 

Biden opens his 9/11 remarks in Alaska: "The governor and I have something in common: we're both from Scranton, Pennsylvania. I wish I had him playing on my high school ball club when I was playing. I could've been an All-American." pic.twitter.com/a9D63la9Pf

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 11, 2023

This isn't difficult. You don't crack jokes while mourning the loss of nearly 3,000 Americans in the nation's deadliest terrorist attack. One's tone is everything in a situation like that, and instead, Biden thinks he's up there to do a comedy routine. 

Imagine the outrage if Donald Trump had cracked jokes during one of his 9/11 speeches. How would the mainstream press have responded? With Biden, though, no one cares because he's just expected to be an aloof, doddering geriatric.

Another thing you don't do is spread falshoods about being at ground zero the day after the attack. Biden did just that in a remark I'm sure the White House will be walking back soon enough. 

BIDEN: "Never Forget! - Ground Zero in New York. I remember standing there the next day - Felt like I was looking through the gates of hell." pic.twitter.com/YBAmEodZSp

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 11, 2023

One of Biden's biggest character flaws is that he tells these "white lies" in an attempt to make himself a real-life version of Forrest Gump. To hear the president tell it, he was at nearly every major national event of the last 50 years. 

It's part of a narcissistic tendency in which he must make himself the center of every story. It's the reason he talked about his son, who died of cancer, when meeting with the families of those who died in the Afghanistan withdrawal. Biden can't just empathize from the sidelines like a normal person. He has to be the centerpiece.

As to where Biden actually was on September 12th, 2001, he was in Washington, DC, debating on a resolution in the Senate to condemn the attacks. That's fine, and there's nothing wrong with that, but he was not at ground zero, "looking through the gates of hell." 

Americans should demand better than this from their elected officials, especially the President of the United States. It's not okay to spout falsehoods. It's also not okay to do a stand-up routine on a day centered on the deaths of thousands of Americans. Is it really too much to ask for Biden to just read the room for once? To have some sense of a filter? Perhaps it is.