State of the Union

Call it Out

So let’s call this out up front – Joe Biden is not a great public speaker.  He’s no Barack Obama, or Bill Clinton, or even George W Bush.  Joe Biden stutters, he gets in a hurry, he steps on his own applause lines.  The last ten minutes of the State of the Union last night were bullet points, each important, but each squashed in the hurry of presentation.

And he said Ukrainians over and over and over again – correctly.  But once, he did said “Uranians”.  

It’s the same guy that got elected two years ago, the same Vice President and Senator who was known as “Mr. Gaffe”.  My right-wing friends can sling together Fecebook posts about how much he staggered, and the right-wing media will put together YouTube clips of his mistakes.  It’s inevitable in our toxic world.  

But they watched the State of the Union last night.

Embarrassing

They say it’s “embarrassing” that the President of the United States stutters.  Some claim that it’s a sign of some form of dementia.  I guess twelve year-old Joey Biden was demented when he was practicing in front of his mirror.  It all comes from the place where it’s “OK” to  make fun of disabled reporters, or the way people dress.  They are right about one thing, it is embarrassing, almost as embarrassing as Greene and Boebert – I’m embarrassed for them.

To bend another famous Biden gaffe – “it’s not a f**king big deal”.  President Biden communicated to the American people last night.  He demonstrated the leadership that united the free world (and some places that are not so free) against Russia.  And he went out of his way to NOT “push the buttons” that disunite us.

Back to Unity

There was no mention of the January 6th Insurrection last night, nor mention of “truck convoys”, either in Canada or Indianapolis (where the US version stayed last night, taking a break – probably so they could stay up and watch the speech).  In fact, there were very few references to the Trump Administration.  Biden made the point that when he arrived at the White House, NATO had to be rebuilt.  And he noted that Trump passed the trillion dollar tax cut that inevitably benefitted corporations and the wealthy. 

But the first and last thirds of his speech were about Americans working together.  With the exception of the extreme “Carlsonites”, most Americans, even Trump supporters, are backing Ukraine against Russia.  Sure there’s lots of niggling about what Biden should have done differently to prevent Russia’s actions (none of which would have worked) but the American people are “on-board” to support Ukraine.  

And at the end of his speech, the President went out of his way to press a “four point” plan that most Americans (and both Parties in Congress) can agree upon:

  •             beat the opioid epidemic
  •             take on mental health
  •             support veterans
  •             end cancer as we know it.

Who’s against these?

Go Get ‘Em

Joseph Biden, President of the United States, is leading a coalition of the world standing up to Russian aggression.  This is not the Eisenhower-Kennedy era:  the United States was not the default “leader of the free world” three years ago.  US leaders intentionally stepped back from that role, focusing on “America First”.  If we are searching for what might have emboldened Putin to take the apparently unhinged action of invading another country, that might be the first place to look. 

Joseph Biden, President of the United States, last year led America to create more jobs than any other year in history. And, as ugly as it is, he led the nation to the point where a world pandemic, that has cost almost a million American lives, now is to the point where, “We will continue to combat the virus as we do other diseases” (SOTU). Take off your mask and go to work.

Biden turned the standing joke of the previous Administration, “Infrastructure Week” into “the Infrastructure Decade”.   And – as he mentioned last night – he’s encouraging the development of “American” industry, including the twenty billion dollar Intel project, being built in New Albany, just down the road from me.  

Oh, and he just nominated the eminently qualified, first black woman to serve as a United States Supreme Court Justice.

That’s just some of what he’s done in the past year. 

Important 

He’s not a great speaker. Joe Biden is an older man, doing the toughest job in the world. If you are a liberal, you might be frustrated with all of the “lost opportunities” of the past year – like making life better for American workers and securing voting rights. Biden’s frustrated too. But in a political world where the Congress is just as divided as the Nation, and every Senator (and every four Congressmen) holds a veto on every piece of legislation – Biden’s getting a lot done.

And that’s a big f**king deal.

Author: Marty Dahlman

I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.