Why the Dogs, Vegetables—And Crib?—At the White House Matter

It’s a very peculiar and disorienting feeling but...nice things are happening at the White House again. On Friday, as President Biden (still feels good to say it!) walked to Marine One on the South Lawn, he and first lady Jill Biden were pictured pulling down their masks to kiss goodbye. Sorry to be an adult child of divorce, but the president and the first lady actually like each other, and I love to see it.

Then, in a new interview with People on Wednesday, Dr. Biden shared that her husband of 43 years had gifted her a corsage of gardenias on Inauguration Day, a nod to their annual Valentine’s Day tradition. Even more romantic to me, President Biden (can’t stop, won’t stop) praised his wife for continuing her work as a full-time English professor at Northern Virginia Community College, becoming the first first lady in history to maintain her pre–White House job. “It’s important that she has the things that she cares a great deal about, her independence,” Biden said. “And yet we share each other’s dreams.” Such is the warm, familial feeling on Pennsylvania Avenue that the Bidens even reportedly brought a crib to the residence for their youngest grandson, baby Beau Biden, Jr.

These latest displays of affection from the loving first couple came shortly after the family dogs, Champ and Major, were seen lolling on the White House Lawn. Champ was “enjoying his new dog bed by the fireplace,” according to an official press release, and Major—believed to be the first First Dog from a shelter, a fact which totally did not make me cry a little—“loved running around on the South Lawn.” The wholesome content continued this week when former/forever first lady Michelle Obama posted a veritable cornucopia of leafy greens on Instagram and thanked Dr. Biden, who had sent them from the White House kitchen garden. “Love you, Jill!” Obama wrote.

It’s a far cry from “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” None of these simple joys would have been particularly noteworthy in normal times. But after the utter dearth of good feeling that was the Trump administration—four years of primal fear that ended in a coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol—it’s a balm for the soul to see genuine affection, dogs, vegetables and possible cribs at the White House again. After the ostensible razing of the Rose Garden, it’s akin to the color slowly returning to the gray, malnourished Pride Rock at the end of The Lion King. Remember Bo and Sunny? Remember Socks the cat, the Obama girls, and Kennedy kids? Remember basic decency; the little signs that the occupants of the highest seat of power were not cold and craven? It’s akin to the refreshing feeling of Inauguration Day, when, in the absence of fascism and incitements of violence from the president, we were free, if only for a few hours, to drink in the jewel-colored coats and the life-size bird brooch pinned to Lady Gaga.

There are still many, many existential issues facing the country, none of which will be solved by Major Biden’s cuteness or the freshest bundle of kale, but it is something, even if something small, to tentatively step out of the bleakness and see displays of love and kindness at the top. Taken together, all of those small gestures add up to a mood, an example we can show our children, a part of culture. Last year, Elayne Griffin Baker wrote a much-shared poem about the Trump administration, and all the little-but-actually-big things that had been lost during it. “There’s no art in this White House./ There’s no literature, no poetry, no music./ There are no pets in this White House, no loyal man’s best friend,” she wrote. “No Obamas on the beach in Hawaii moments, or Bushes fishing in Kennebunkport./ No Reagans on horseback, no Kennedys playing touch football on the Cape./ Where’d that country go?/ Where did all the fun, the joy and the expression of love and happiness go?” I hope it’s coming back.