Jill Biden is left begging for applause after line in speech falls flat with Washington DC crowd 

Jill Biden was left in the quiet and begging for a reaction after a tough crowd failed to respond as the First Lady hoped. 

Biden, 71, spoke at the Reagan Institute Summit on Education Thursday when she suffered the gaffe while talking about uniting the right and left. 

‘I’ve visited red states and blue states and I’ve found that the common values that unite us are deeper than our divisions,’ she said, which was followed by silence. 

A flash of confusion crossed the First Lady’s face before she took the awkward silence with stride and joked: ‘And, um, I thought you might clap for that.’ 

This wasn’t the first time Biden has suffered from an awkward pause during her speech. In 2019, the professor’s ‘applause line’ fell short in Iowa after she promised her husband would stand up to the NRA. 

‘Finally someone is standing up to the NRA and keeping our children and our schools safe,’ she said at the time of her husband. 

She was met with blank stares and a silent audience before she threw her arms out and said: ‘That’s my applause line, come on.’ 

The audience immediately lit up, laughing alongside Biden as she continued her speech. 

Her two gaffes were reminiscent of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s awkward moment in 2016 when he begged the audience to ‘please clap.’ 

As he laid out what he believed America needed in a president – including a ‘quieter’ one – the audience appeared to have mistaken what he meant as no one moved to clap during the pause in his speech. 

As Bush crowded out the cornerstone of speech, telling the audience he was ‘getting back into the business of creating a more peaceful world,’ the audience didn’t respond.

Unlike Biden, who laughed off the moment, Bush appeared more irritated and sternly requested the audience to applaud him. 

Biden, a Northern Virginia Community College English teacher, attended the RISE conference, which hosts educators from across the country. This year’s conference focused examined ‘America’s recovery and resilience,’ according to the Reagan Foundation. 

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and educator Sal Khan, among others – including congress members and secretaries of education – have participated in the event over the years. 

Biden had previously participated in the event in 2018 while she was the Second Lady. 

The First Lady thanked the Reagan Institute on Twitter for allowing her to speak, despite her gaffe, writing: ‘Thank you to the @ReaganInstitute for bringing together leaders from across the country to talk about the future of education. Creating pathways to good paying jobs isn’t a red issue or blue issue – it’s an American issue that we can all unite around.’