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In reply to the discussion: Biden asks if deceased congresswoman is present at White House food insecurity conference [View all]forgotmylogin
(7,519 posts)So I have not met everyone I work with directly; 80% of them I have not even seen a picture of and they are just names in a chat room, so many are just remote acquaintances at best. I've not had deep conversations with many of my coworkers that would form a whole picture of them and their identity in my brain.
If it was someone I worked directly with on a day-to-day basis and joked with and talked to more than a couple times, yes, most likely.
If it was someone on another team I hadn't worked directly with or hadn't had more than a brief chat conversation with, I might remember "someone" on that team passed but I may not immediately connect their name with their current status on a glance.
I can empathize with Biden. He likely knew that a congressperson had died, but hadn't linked that event and the name of a republican rep from Indiana. He likely works with multiple people named "Jackie".
Like another poster said - 500+ house members + 100 senators + all their staff and aides + thousands of bills with a rotating cast + post-pandemic many people don't work face to face and this is understandable. An uncomfortable gaffe, but things like this will happen to someone who by necessity interacts with hundreds of people per day and doesn't have an eidetic memory.