Does anyone give a worse speech than President Joe Biden? That alone should make us hope he doesn’t run again. His State of the Union speech was awful! But that was not unexpected.
There were of course, the polite platitudes: “Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working together.” Ha! Can he really be looking forward to working with Speaker Kevin McCarthy! Not likely, but that’s just the obligatory politeness — and gives the audience a chance to get used to the sound of his voice. (RELATED: BASTASCH: You Might Have Missed This, But Biden Just Made A Stunning Admission About His Energy Agenda)
Some of what he said was just ordinary political jaywalking: “Two years ago, COVID had shut down our businesses, closed our schools, and robbed us of so much.” Well, not exactly. COVID didn’t shut our businesses: people did — people in government, people we call politicians. And then some brave politicians looked at the facts and reopened their states, e.g., Governor Ron DeSantis.
But then this: “Today, COVID no longer controls our lives.” That’s stealing a base. Biden has said several times that the pandemic is over — but he is keeping it “officially” open so he can use “emergency” powers to do what he would otherwise not be able to do, e.g., forgive student loans.
And then more blather: “And two years ago, our democracy faced its greatest threat since the Civil War.” Please. Putting such nonsense in a State of the Union speech won’t make it true.
And then there is (always) the objectionable grammar in a Biden speech: “Yes, we disagreed plenty.” Who talks that way? Except perhaps politicians trying to sound like what they believe are their semi-literate constituents.
And, of course, the obligatory nod to Theodore Sorensen, JFK’s speech writer: “Our strength is not just the example of our power, but the power of our example.” OMG! Please don’t do that.
And the ridiculous boasting: “I will make no apologies that we are investing to make America strong.” Oooh. And you’re so handsome too.
Biden prided himself on passing what he accurately (alas) described as bipartisan laws, like (hang on tight) the Respect for Marriage Act “that protects the right to marry the person you love.” Okay, maybe: but you still can’t marry your sheep. Or your kitchen table. Yet. So there must still be bipartisan work to be done.
And then there are the blatant lies: “We all want the same thing. Neighborhoods free of violence.” (Those two sentences were in separate paragraphs, probably a wise decision by the speech writer.) But what a lie! Obviously not all Democrats want neighborhoods free of violence. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, both Democrats, have done nothing to reduce violence in their state and city. And Democrats the country over were perfectly content with the mayhem, looting and murder, loosed on numerous cities by the Black Lives Matter crowd. Biden doesn’t care two pins about violence.
On guns: “Ban assault weapons once and for all. We did it before. I led the fight to ban them in 1994. In the 10 years the ban was law, mass shootings went down. After Republicans let it expire, mass shootings tripled.” Balderdash! One fact checker said, ages ago, it was “premature to make definitive assessments of the ban’s impact on gun crime,” If Biden really believes what he said, he should be impeached for incompetence.
And then this whopper: “We now have a record number of personnel working to secure the border, arresting 8,000 human smugglers and seizing over 23,000 pounds of fentanyl in just the last several months.” The implication is that the southern border is secure. If you watch the news, who you gonna believe: Biden or your own eyes?
There was, of course, the obligatory, but no less disgraceful, nod to the abortion lobby: “The Vice President and I are doing everything we can to protect access to reproductive health care and safeguard patient privacy.” You gotta love “reproductive health care.” How do you suppose the baby feels about being aborted as part of “reproductive health care”? There’s a sickness there large enough to stain a whole nation. It’s America’s common bond with China and North Korea.
And then, as part of the finale and his boasting on abortion, this (ignore the syntax, i.e., the superfluously inserted “that all of us”: “That all of us, every one of us, is created equal in the image of God.”
Yeah, right: except the little ones. We can dispose of them. Like used tissues. That — to repeat — is our common bond with China and North Korea.
Exit to massive applause from Democrats.
Daniel Oliver is chairman of the board of the Education and Research Institute and a director of the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy in San Francisco. In addition to serving as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission under President Reagan, he was executive editor and subsequently chairman of the board of William F. Buckley Jr.’s National Review. Email him at Daniel.Oliver@TheCandidAmerican.com.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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