The big question going into Thursday night’s State of the Union speech was whether or not President Joe Biden would appear old and frail, so he shouted his way through the speech apparently to appear vigorous.
But the content of the speech amounted to much less. Biden’s volume was covering up glaring weakness; for every big problem facing the country, the president’s solutions are small.
Interest rates have caused the average monthly mortgage payment to almost double under Biden’s tenure, making houses unaffordable for most people. Biden’s answer? He’s going to eliminate closing costs and give home buyers a $800 tax credit. That’s not going to help.
Thanks to inflation, each of us is now spending more income on groceries than at any time in more than 30 years. Biden’s solution? He’s going to force Mars not to shrink the size of your chocolate bar. This means companies will raise the price of food even higher.
Climate change is raising temperatures around the world? Biden is going to start a “Climate Corps” of 20,000 people to help transition to a “clean energy future.” No one believes these government make-work jobs will lower temperatures by even a fraction of a degree.
Illegal immigrants are murdering and raping women and children across the country? Biden wants new legislation that would mandate catch and release for illegal immigrants like Daniel Ibarra, charged with killing Laken Riley. That will only make the crisis worse — a crisis that Biden created.
Israel is locked in a life-and-death struggle with Hamas, which is still holding eight Americans hostage. Biden is going to build them a pier to bring in more humanitarian assistance. That is not going to help Israel defeat Hamas and appeases the anti-Israel elements in the Democratic Party that shut down Pennsylvania Avenue on Thursday night.
He attacked credit card “junk fees” and online ticket travel fees, claiming his administration was creating new rules to eliminate them. These are minor annoyances, but the new regulations will force companies to pass costs on in other areas or prompt credit card companies to limit lines of credit. They are not really saving consumers money, just pushing it around to other places. They are all such small ball. None address the underlying issues of inflation and high interest rates.
On his age, Biden did pass the test, barely. He forgot to let House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) introduce him. He accidentally added “Moscow” to a list of cities in which Americans could buy cheaper drugs. He called Laken Riley “Lincoln” Riley. And he said every “American” voted against his inflation-causing stimulus bill when he meant every “Republican.”
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Those mistakes aside, however, there was no big embarrassing blank stare moment or physical fumbling. If Biden wanted to reassure himself he still has the mental capacity to take on former President Donald Trump, he will surely take last night’s performance as confirmation of his abilities.
But will Democrats be excited by the shrinkflation agenda Biden proposed? We doubt it. And we’ll see in November.
