As is always the case, the State of the Union Speech was a mixed bag. Here is my assessment of President Biden’s speech.
Performance – B+
I gave President Biden a B+ for his performance because he showed that he can put energy into a long speech – although using a teleprompter. He might have gotten an A, except for two things. (1) Even with the teleprompter and lots of rehearsal, he fumbled a few times, and had a brief coughing spell. Nothing dramatic, however. (2) More importantly, he was over-coached. In an attempt to dispel the widely held perception that he is too old for a second term, he literally yelled through much of his 67-minute speech. (Perhaps that was the reason for the coughing spell.)
His performance was very good, but I do not think it will entirely dispel the age concerns for two reasons. (1) Those with experience with older folks with diminishing capacity know that they have their good moments and bad moments – and can rise to special occasions. (2) He is likely to have a few senior moments in the future – and (3) his campaigning will continue to be limited to scripted statements with minimal impromptu exchanges with the press and voters. I doubt he will agree to debate.
Meeting the Purpose – F
More than any State of the Union Speech in memory – and possibly in American history — Biden went full-bore political. He abandoned the constitutional purpose of the annual report to Congress by making it a strident partisan campaign speech – a “political convention speech,” as one CNN commentator called it.
Even MSNBC’s Chris Hayes said it was “fully a campaign speech” — admiringly. CNN’s Jake Tapper said he had never heard of a State of the Union Speech that was “so political” – slightly less admiringly.
Biden’s 13 negative references to his “predecessor” and his stark contrast along partisan battle lines were unprecedented in the tradition of the President’s report to Congress. It was not President Biden at the podium. It was candidate Biden. I gave Biden an F because what he gave was not a State of the Union address as prescribed in the Constitution in any way, shape or form. It was – as they say – red meat for his base. Did he effectively use or sadly abuse the platform?
Political Benefit – A+
Just as Biden ignored the traditional constitutional expectation of the State of the Union Speech, he was very successful in transforming it into an effective campaign speech – one of the best he has ever delivered. Mentally, he was speaking at a Democrat political rally – using hecklers as foils. That should come as no surprise since the man has been giving hardcore partisan speeches for more than 55 of his 81 years on earth. In addition, he had the support of a team of competent political strategists who crafted the speech and rehearsed every moment – including the seeming impromptu asides with Republicans. Yes, it was filled with platitudes, impossible promises, misinformation and a few fibs, but that is what makes it a campaign speech. No argument, it was as good as barnstorming campaign speech gets.
General Command of Subject Matter – D
It was not as though Biden did not have command of his message. It was just that so much of it was aspirational malarky. In the spirit of a campaign speech, Biden promised everything to everybody – mostly what he will do for us in the future. It was an impossible list politically and economically. It was political snake oil and Biden was doing the selling. The common thread was spend … spend … spend. Money for prescription drugs … teacher pay … renters … home buyers … credit card holders… students … seniors … women’s healthcare … police … etc. … etc. … etc. Even Washington cannot tax and borrow enough to pay for Biden’s promises. He must know that many of his proposals — sans details – will never pass even a Democrat controlled Congress.
Handling Hecklers – A
That a seasoned politician can handle audience heckling comes as no surprise. And the prospect of heckling was planned for and rehearsed. No matter. He did it well. And he had the advantage of Republicans acting badly. Did I mention Marjorie Taylor Greene? She is an embarrassment that provides ammo for Democrat attacks. Her attire was disrespectful, inappropriate and a violation of House rules – and offering herself as Biden’s volunteer debate opponent was unseemly.
Old Subjects – D
In his opening, Biden compared himself to President Roosevelt in 1941. It was mostly apt comparison when you consider that much of Biden’s speech was based on New Deal issues and the ancient bromides of the Democratic Party. There was his evergreen praise of unions – and his commitment to use government power to empower them.
Biden repeated his commitment to raising the minimum wage – even though that has always proven to have more negative economic impacts than positive – such as raising prices and killing off jobs.
Biden was all in on the New Deal approach to class warfare – especially the attack on corporate America. He promises to spare the working class from higher taxes by piling taxes on corporations – including hundreds of thousands of small corporations. This is a political scam. Corporations do not “pay” taxes. Taxes are added to the expense side of the balance sheet that factors into the price of goods and services. In other words, the consumer – you and I – ultimately pay the taxes imposed on corporations.
Biden does hit some paydirt in addressing the overall tax systems that provide too many unique advantages for wealthy individuals. But if he really wanted to even the playing field, Biden would support the proposal to abolish the income tax entirely – to be replaced with a slightly progressive national sales tax – but that is better covered in a future commentary.
Hot Topics – C
Nowhere was Team Biden’s political craftsmanship more obvious than his handling of the issues that are on the minds of the voters.
Thanks to Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, Biden was able to finesse on the issue of immigration. Despite the fact that the Democratic Party is largely culpable for the catastrophic immigration crisis that has metastasized across the country, Biden blamed the problem on Republicans because of the terrible so-called bipartisan bill that thankfully failed in the Senate. Not only was Lankford the primary useful idiot who negotiated the bill for the GOP, but he was the major talking point after he gave Biden’s spin an affirmative nod during the Speech.
Interestingly, Biden did not bring up Israel as the logical follow-up on Ukraine. Rather he saved that for much later in his speech. Following his initial defense of Israel as the victim in the October 7 terrorist attack, he immediately shifted to his pro-Hamas position. By myopically focusing on the unfortunate casualties of war, Biden harshly criticized Israel’s conduct of the war – making the Palestinians victims of Israel rather than of Hamas. He literally repeated narratives coming out of the Hamas propaganda machine.
Biden used some of his strongest and loudest rhetoric on the issue of abortion. He has become the Catholic communities’ strongest proponent of abortion – promising to pass legislation to reinstate abortion-on-demand at any point in a pregnancy by national legislation. It was his strongest statement –it is the one issue that polls well for Democrats. In a very real sense, Biden abandoned his religion for his politics.
Then there was the economy. Biden basically repeated the message he’s been sending out for months. The stock market is bullish. The GNP is rising. But he does not address the essential question of whether people are economically better off today than they were four years ago. And that is a resounding “NO!” Mortgage rates have doubled. Prices are up 20 percent – and higher in essential goods. Credit card debt and defaults are at an all-time high. That is the economy most Americans have to deal with.
In terms of other issues, Biden resorted to the Democrats’ standard approach. Throw money at the problem. It would not take an economist or the Congressional Budget Office to establish that Biden’s political promises would require trillions of dollars in additional spending – expanding deficits and the National Debt passed the point of economic collapse.
Summary
All things considered, it was a good night for Biden and Democrats. Biden put to rest – for the moment – concerns about his age and vitality. He was energetic and coherent. It was politics at its best – or worse. He appears to have gotten a bump in fundraising – and is likely to get a bump in post-speech polling.
Fortunately for Republicans, the glow that Democrats and their media allies have been basking in since the speech will fade away. Other events will take over.
If it was a boxing match, Biden clearly wins the round. He did not knock out Trump or the GOP, but he knocked them to the canvas a couple of times. The real question going forward is whether Biden will have more senior moments or whether Trump will exceed the voters’ tolerance for provocative rhetoric. Regardless … it is going to be a brutal election season.
So, there tis.