Joe Biden showed energy and class in a make-or-break speech. Republicans showed they are the party of doom, gloom, living in a dark world without joy or hope. Here’s hoping voters see the difference between ageless Joe and the dark-siders.
SOME THOUGHTS ON Joe and the State of the Union…
I sat my nearly 78-year-old body into the recliner Thursday night and tuned into Joe Biden’s State of the Union address wondering how I would feel about the 81-year-old would do. After all, I’d been reading the Republican claims that he has dementia (he most assuredly does not) and was unfit to lead the country.
Boy Howdy! Did I feel good when it was over. Biden knocked it out of the park.
Did he look old? Well hell yes! He’s 81. But did he look like a damned fit 81-year-old? Yep.
Did he stumble on words? Sure. But he didn’t stumble on them for the reasons Republican’s like to cite – he’s old, he’s senile, etc. He stumbled because he still, every day, battles a stuttering affliction he has battled since childhood. He still battles it, noting that when he is tired some of his coping mechanisms fall away. Stuttering is a motor issue, not an intellectual one.
A few vignettes…
Biden led with speaking the truth about his “predecessor.” “Not since President Lincoln and the civil war have our freedom and democracy been under assault at home as they are today. What makes our moment rare is freedom and democracy are under attack both at home and overseas at the very same time.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the radical unhinged congressperson from Georgia, continued her campaign to give trailer parks a bad name. She appeared all in red with a MAGA gimme cap, a “Biden Border” shirt and a surplus of bad manners. She accosted Biden as we he walked down the aisle and thrust a button with the name of Laken Riley (murdered by an illegal immigrant) into his hand. She hollered at Biden throughout his speech, and you had to love it when Biden held up the button she had given him and basically asked her why she’d come out against a strong border bill that would make deaths like Ms. Riley’s more unlikely. If you want to see the rude, classless and ill-mannered face of what the Republican Party is today, Greene put it on full display.
Poor Mike Johnson. He gave a few limp claps through the 90-minute speech but mostly he just shook his head as Biden ticked off accomplishment after accomplishment. Johnson couldn’t even show agreement that Jan. 6, 2021, was an ugly day for America. When Biden took off on the Republican rejection of a solid border bill, because Donald Trump, and listed what the bill would have done, Johnson shook his head non-stop. Interesting that the camera cut to Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, the conservative senator who worked tirelessly to create a bipartisan border bill. It showed him mouthing “That’s true” as Biden ticked off the bill’s provisions.
Biden made an assumption. When Republicans heckled him as he discussed the border bill, Biden pointed out responded “Look at the facts. I know you can read.” Hmm. Can they, though? Or will they? And when have Republicans ever recognized “facts?” Not since Trump arrived on the scene.
What would Reagan have done? Nothing like invoking the Republican idol (well not so much to many of the current whack jobs in the GOP) to make a point. “Assistance for Ukraine is being blocked by those who want us to walk away from our leadership in the world. It wasn’t that long ago when a Republican President, Ronald Reagan, thundered, ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.’ Now, my predecessor, a former Republican President, tells Putin, “Do whatever the hell you want.”
Trump owns the death of Roe v Wade and now Republicans own it so with the Supreme Court justices sitting just feet away, Biden said “My predecessor came to office determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned. He’s the reason it was overturned. In fact, he brags about it. Look at the chaos that has resulted.”
The horror of Gaza is complex and beyond the ability of any single person to resolve, though people on all sides of the issue somehow seem to think Biden could wave a magic wand and make it all better. He didn’t duck the issue. “Israel has a right to go after Hamas. Humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority. The only real solution is a two-state solution.” He’s right but don’t hold your breath for either side in that conflict to accept his comments.
Biden rightly pointed out the economy is booming, even as polls show a majority of Americans don’t agree. Reality is there are a lot of reasons for how a person might view the economy. I recall an interview with a Trump supporter who was claiming he couldn’t make ends meet. He was interviewed standing next to a $60,000 vehicle. Credit card debt in the country is at an all-time high. Travel has rebounded. Americans are spending money? Too much? And, how much of the pain is coming from profit-taking. Said Biden “For folks at home does anybody really think the tax code is fair? Do you really think the wealthy and big corporations need another $2 trillion in tax breaks? I sure don’t. I’m going to keep fighting like hell to make it fair.”
Republicans have been talking about cutting Social Security benefits and raising the retirement age, when all that really needs to be done to keep the system solvent is to raise the taxable income cap to, say, $1 million. Biden’s message: “If anyone here tries to cut Social Security or Medicare or raise the retirement age I will stop them. I will protect and strengthen Social Security and make the wealthy pay their fair share.”
What about that Republican rebuttal? Alabama (yes, they chose someone from Alabama) Sen. Katie Britt gave the rebuttal sitting in her gleaming kitchen. She called Biden a “dithering and diminished leader” and added “right now, the American dream has turned into a nightmare for so many families.” Geez. It seems the Republican view of a woman is a well-off senator sitting in her kitchen painting pictures of doom and gloom. Give me Joe’s optimism and belief in American any day!
Summing up. I feel much better about Biden and our hopes for preserving democracy this morning than I did yesterday morning.
Rich Heiland, has been a reporter, editor, publisher/general manager at daily papers in Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio and New Hampshire. He was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team at the Xenia Daily (OH) Daily Gazette, a National Newspaper Association Columnist of the Year, and a recipient of the Molly Ivins First Amendment Award from the Walker County (TX) Democrat Club. He taught journalism at Western Illinois University and leadership and community development at Woodbury College in Vermont. Since 1995 he has operated an international consulting, public speaking and training business specializing in customer service, general management, leadership and staff development with major corporations, organizations, and government. Semi-retired, he and his wife live in West Chester, PA. He can be reached at heilandrich1@gmail.com.
Rich Heiland, has been a reporter, editor, publisher/general manager at daily papers in Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio and New Hampshire. He was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team at the Xenia Daily (OH) Daily Gazette, a National Newspaper Association Columnist of the Year, and a recipient of the Molly Ivins First Amendment Award from the Walker County (TX) Democrat Club. He taught journalism at Western Illinois University and leadership and community development at Woodbury College in Vermont. Since 1995 he has operated an international consulting, public speaking and training business specializing in customer service, general management, leadership and staff development with major corporations, organizations, and government. Semi-retired, he and his wife live in West Chester, PA. He can be reached at heilandrich1@gmail.com.