The State of the Union
There’s a war going on in Ukraine. I’ve never seen war and I hope I never do. But I don’t need to be a combat veteran to understand that the concept of war is horrifyingly painful. In the end, no matter what color we are, where we came from, or what God we believe in, everyone bleeds red.
So as we have our first State of the Union of the past two years (some virus cancelled the speech in 2021) this conflict in Eastern Europe has taken center stage. And so it did in Tuesday night’s SOTU address from President Joe Biden. Yes yes the same Joe Biden who hung out in the Senate for 36 years and was the wingman Barack Obama didn’t really want. But no matter we got rid of Donald Trump so we’re obviously doing much better now.
Except the majority of the country does not believe we’re doing better. Check any polling over the last six months. It makes you wonder how the Biden staff even attacked this speech. Now I’m no expert on these big speeches, but I think it’s safe to say at this stage a leader would be looking to tout big achievements and tell us what great things are ahead. Thank the good Lord we got a war to talk about. I always love the part where we start and talk about how strong the people in Ukraine are. By George, they’re really holding it down over there against big bad Vladimir Putin. It’s the State of the Union for this country Joe not the State of the Overseas Union.
Yes, I’m being a little unfair because we should have concern over what’s going on in Ukraine. But as much as I sympathize with the citizens of Ukraine I live in this country and my first and foremost concern is what happens in America. So you’ll have to forgive me for not getting all choked up for the Ukrainian ambassador who was on hand. She’s a diplomat and her country is at war. Not saying Ms. Ambassador could have done anything to stop the Russian invasion, but when your country is fighting for it’s existence, I think we can agree that diplomacy has failed and the diplomat can take a backseat for this one.
So yes, Joe Biden came out smoking with Ukraine stuff and Putin is really bad and we’re gona get him with the sanctions and the NATO and all the rest of it. And in fairness, Biden earned a passing grade here even. But once we left Europe and came back to America things went sideways. Not that Biden went full glitch mode and couldn’t connect the dots in his delivery. But the domestic portion of his speech just didn’t connect (despite some CBS poll you may have seen). The fact is the American people are dealing with a plethora of issues at home that include inflation, surging energy prices, more crime, an unsecure border, and the school closures due to COVID-19 and their effects on children are something parents will deal with for years to come.
Did Biden talk about these issues? Well, yeah. His staff know the polling and that Americans have an unfavorable view of him on almost every issue and that includes the pandemic which is a big part of why he got elected. So they couldn’t just let Biden go out there and “Bird Box” this thing. So Biden acknowledge the inflation that is eating more American income. He talked about higher gas prices. He even mentioned immigration. Did he offer solutions? Yes he did. The short answer is more government. Because the answer for liberals is always more government. Even for problems that they create. And make no mistake. Many of these problems are due to the policies of the Biden administration.
The government has artificially injected an astounding amount of money into our economy. There’s your inflation. The government has strangled our domestic energy capacity, including a Day 1 cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline. There’s your higher gas prices. Homeland security is more concerned making up stories about border patrol agents whipping illegal immigrants that closing the border. And major cities are still in disarray because of the rotten stench of the “Defund the Police” idiocy touted by so-called Progressives.
But not to worry. Biden said we’re going to cut costs and that will help inflation. We’re going to tap into our strategic oil reserves which will help gas prices for about five minutes. We’re going to do some sort of electronic monitoring at the border and do some sort of drug-trafficking task force with Central America. And of course we’re going to fight gun violence and ghost guns and COVID relief fraud. However, every issue will be solved by a government program so we’re going to keep spending money. We will not be returning to domestic energy production which had us energy-independent under the Trump administration. We will not be completing the physical barrier at the border. I hope we’ll be do more on crime than ghost guns. Excellent, we’re getting Casper and his AK-47. Oh but could we please get the deranged loons off the street that are committing crimes with weapons that are not assault rifles? I know we’re busy with Ukraine but could we show an ounce of respect for our own sovereignty?
There was also the usual racket about voting rights because the laws from almost 60 years ago aren’t working anymore because voter ID is racist. And there’s an assault on women’s rights because women have to be allowed to get abortions. Biden also had the audacity to talk about two NYPD fallen police officers and also vow to “hold law enforcement accountable.” There was no mention of holding violent criminals accountable. Which is the whole point of the criminal justice system.
By the way my favorite parts of these type of speeches is looking for reactions from the audience and the abortion line really seemed to have Susan Collins confused. Steve Scalise almost lost it when Biden bragged about ordering all the pills. Kevin McCarthy was seen on his phone for an extended period. Ted Cruz looked me sitting in a suicide awareness briefing. Now yes I know they’re all Republicans. I was watching the Democrats, too. And I’ve never seen some of these people so happy. Nancy Pelosi was showing off that Botox grin all night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Chuck Schumer so happy at one point when Biden was talking about taxes. Kamala Harris looked pretty pleased most of the night even though she couldn’t resist mouthing “Ukrainians” when Biden referred to them as “Iranians.”
This speech just didn’t meet the moment. I’m human and I know it can be hard to admit when I’m wrong. But it is necessary and it’s a sign of having some self-awareness. Joe Biden took no responsibility for any of these domestic disasters. This energy fiasco is maddening. We handicap our own energy production because climate but our need for oil consumption remains. And so we’re paying foreign countries for oil. Russia is one of those countries. And we wonder why Russia feels emboldened. And yet the Biden administration is giving no indication they will change course in any meaningful way.
Besides more and more government programs it doesn’t appear we’ll be changing much. And that should be concerning for us as we try to tightrope our way through this stretch where one wrong move could plunge us into a major conflict with a nuclear power. Every American should be uncomfortable with that possibility. As we saw six months ago, we can’t even run a withdrawal correctly.
Biden closed his 62 minute speech by declaring “We are stronger than we were a year ago.” As Biden’s administration proceeds, it doesn’t appear the promise of Day 1 unity will be fulfilled anytime soon. The Democratic party has control of both houses of Congress and the White House and they have very little to show for it. They are out of touch and living in an alternate reality. Joe Biden is just wrong. We are not stronger than we were one year ago. They only need look themselves in the mirror and their policies to understand why.