Two Worlds

Joe Cool

I had a  track meeting last night, and sped home to watch the State of the Union (SOTU) address.  I had just enough time left to stop and buy some snacks on the way in.  It’s not quite the National Football League,  Bengals versus Chiefs. But for someone who’s followed politics almost since birth, SOTU is definitely “game time”.   

If you follow NFL football, the Bengals have a young quarterback who is unflappable.  Joe Burrow, “Joe Cool,” sets playoff records.  His patchwork line struggles to protect him, and last year Burrow was sacked more than any other quarterback ever in a playoff game.  And they still won.  Burrow got bowled over, smothered, smashed: then popped back up and threw his next pass halfway down the field for a touchdown.

President Biden is a little like Burrow, a “Joe Cool”; and it’s not just the aviator sunglasses.  In his career, and life, Biden has been bowled over. But now at the end, Biden gave all of us sixty-somethings hope.  He won the Presidency at seventy-eight years old.  Biden’s “gaffes” are a political legend in Washington, and with forty-five years on “the field”, Biden has made plenty.  So as a fan of the “Biden Team” in this SOTU, I always worry:  will the Biden gaffe raise its awkward head again? 

This game was a setup for the President.  He isn’t Barack Obama, with soaring rhetoric reminiscent of Lincoln.  Biden is a plain-spoken man, punctuating his text with “…look folks” and “really, I mean it”.  And he knew that he faced a hostile crowd to his left (“…but they’re really right,” he said).   Gone are the days when the President’s Party claps and cheers, and the opposition Party politely sits on their hands.  Our current Congress more closely resembles “Question Time” in the UK Parliament.  The opposition has no problem booing, jeering, and calling out in the middle of a Biden sentence.  

Draw Play

Remember when we were all so shocked by the Congressman from South Carolina who yelled out, “You Lie” to President Obama?  Well there were plenty of yellers on the Republican side last night, including newly empowered Marjorie Taylor Green.  She made sure the cameras could find her, as she hollered “LIAR” from the back of the chamber.  When that happened to Obama, the whole room stopped.  

But Biden intentionally baited the raucous opposition into reaction.  Biden quoted Rick Scott, the Republican Senator from Florida and Campaign Committee Chair.  Scott has a plan to “sunset” Medicare and Social Security.  And when Republicans, especially Green, squealed that Biden was “lying”, he turned the play; “Well I guess we all agree then – Medicare and Social Security aren’t on the table for cuts”.  The Democrats broke out in cheers.  In football it’s called a “draw play”, when the opposition is faked into thinking pass, and at the last minute it’s a run.  Touchdown for Joe Biden.

Game Plan

Biden laid out the vast successes of his first two years in office. He touted  the infra-structure bill, the “chips” act, the “burn pit” bill, and the other legislative wins.  He hailed the international coalition standing against Russia in Ukraine.  Biden set the table for negotiations over the debt ceiling.  And he talked about the changes America needs to make in policing, in women’s health rights, and in LGBTQ rights.  

Biden laid out his vision for an America that stands for the middle class, where the poor get a “hand up”, and the rich pay their fair share of the tax burden.  He made it clear that he is willing to negotiate, and that if he can get Americans to work together, “There is nothing we can’t achieve”.  It was noisy, it was raucous, it was very different from other SOTUs.  But it was all Joe Biden, cool under pressure; even taking his own good time leaving the chamber.  This “Joe Cool” signs autographs too, and even has a story for the two retired Supreme Court Justices.  Score a victory for Biden.

Silence in Little Rock

The scene then switched, from the noisy Congressional floor to the empty living room of the Governor’s mansion in Arkansas.  Newly minted Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave the Republican response, always a tough job.  In the name of Marco Rubio, there were no water bottles present.   Where Biden described a bustling, energetic world where the government offered help and hope, Sanders’ world is dark and quiet and  scary. There is a criminal around each corner, you need a gun to protect yourself, and the government threatens to rip citizen’s rights away.  Biden’s world is bright with hope, Sanders dark with dread. 

The dogs woke up early this morning.  I had some time to peruse the news, from the Washington Post to the Fox News website.  And it came to me that if all your information came from Fox, then Sarah Sanders sounds right.  The world is a dark, cold, threatening place.  The “woke left” (whatever “woke” means) is challenging your religion, your jobs, and your kids’ education.   

I don’t want to pop anyone’s balloon (like Biden did) but I like Biden’s noisy, excited, and hopeful world.  We don’t have to be scared, we just have to work hard and have everyone; the rich, the powerful, the monopolized industries, pay their fair share.   It sounds like a better place to be.

Another score for Biden.