We all know elections matter. And when folks vote, they order what they want, and in this case they got what they asked for. I went off script a little bit.
Vice President Harris on Monday
If this State of the Union week proves anything, it’s to bet the “under” on Biden’s Building a Better America proposal. Forget the speech and look at the trifecta behind the teleprompters. One heartbeat away is Kamala Harris, the worst VP since Spiro Agnew. Two heartbeats away is Speaker Pelosi, who’s older than Joe Biden.
In an odd twist, President Biden threw his VP under the bus – because his one prepared reference to Harris went off script (italics below): “Look – Vice President Harris and I ran for office – and I realize we have fundamental differences on this but – ran for office with a new economic vision for America.” That happened at the 18:16 mark and her visage was never the same (she’d know it was personal because she’d pre-read the text). Maybe take it outside, Joe.
Rumors of Biden-Harris discord are old news and she did lay an egg on Tuesday’s “Morning Hustle” radio show. Asked to “break [the war] down in layman’s terms” for Americans, Harris went kindergarten: “Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine so basically, that’s wrong.”
So, yeah, I wasn’t expecting much last night. If she’s one heartbeat away, and 81-year-old Pelosi is two heartbeats away, why expect Democrats to run a real leader for president? Thus, it’s no surprise that only 41% of CNN’s (mostly Democrat) post-SOTU poll had a “very positive” response.
The Good
At least Biden and his party knew to take a breath mint before explaining the state of the union to a hostile audience. Democrats got the memo: wearing masks will only remind voters you are the party of closed schools and moms forced to work from home, closed businesses and vaccine mandates, and New York liberals partying in Florida.
Biden did not talk about January 6, 2021, utter “Trump” even once, or mention the upcoming mid-term elections – all the proof one needs to know Virginia 2021 and ever-sinking approval ratings have knocked some sense into clear-eyed Democrats. Fox’s Harold Ford (D-TN) was blunt: better to change course now than wait for the shellacking in November.
The President struck the right balance on Ukraine; avoiding language that might escalate the nuclear threat, and pledging absolute support for NATO allies. Biden rightly extolled Ukrainians and demonized Putin. He announced more sanctions (US air space closed to all Russian planes) and Russian reprisals (DOJ task force). He reminded the world’s smart money to avoid Putin’s failing autocracy.
The Bad
Because Biden’s poll-of-polls approval is 37%, he rolled with GOP talking points, bipartisanship, and re-branding his Build Back Better plan. Nice try, Joe, but the dog whistles gave you away. Hard to believe any man who says, “to all Americans, I will be honest with you, as I’ve always promised (or) we’re going to be OK.”
His accomplishments include a “wall of strength” Putin “never imagined” and a “top priority” of “getting prices under control.” He offered a “unity agenda for the nation” that sounded like a GOP wish list: “fund the police, secure the border, fix the immigration system, beat the opioid epidemic, support our veterans, and ending cancer as we know it.”
Mr. Biden tried bipartisanship; scolding politicians to “stop looking at COVID as a partisan dividing line,” and promoting his all-new “Building a Better America” plan, which Joe Manchin (D-WV) rightly guessed was Build Back Better in disguise.
Ahem, “inflicting pain on Putin” without denying him petrodollars is absurd. Lowering prices by raising the minimum wage ($15.00), cutting domestic energy production, and mandating (higher cost) American materials on infrastructure projects is futile. Scolding COVID partisans after smearing Florida for one year is a joke. Funding police and securing the border to “advance liberty and justice” sounds like AOC.
The GOP Alternative
The GOP rebuttal came from Iowa’s governor Kim Reynolds, who proclaimed a “pro-parent, pro-family revolution” was necessary in 2022 and 2024 – because “it feels like President Biden and his party have sent us back in time – to the late 70s and early 80s – when runaway inflation was hammering families and the Soviet army was trying to redraw the world map.”
The GOP – under the leadership of Ronna McDaniel and Elise Stefanik – wanted to provide a clear contrast to Biden: a 62-year-old popular woman from a swing state against a 79-year-old man with 37% approval. An open-up governor vs. a Fauci disciple. Mission accomplished!