Let’s be perfectly fair – the State of the Union is ALWAYS a snooze fest. It’s the nature of the beast.
But given the Freedom Convoy and that little war in Ukraine, maybe it shouldn’t be.
Be that as it may, the state of the Union gives a president time in the bully pulpit – a chance to speak directly to the American people and try to convince them. Often, it becomes a rally for the president’s base – easy way to tell which one is likely to happen is to see how the president’s party is doing. It therefore comes as no surprise that Biden spoke primarily to his base.
Trouble was, he spoke from weakness. Pleading with Congress to pass your signature legislation a YEAR into your presidency is beyond the pale weak. Slurring words and using rambling, incomplete sentences just makes it worse. Face it, the Biden presidency is dead.
If he gets his Supreme Court nominee through the Senate it will be with RINO help and a miraculously clean record from the nominee. Biden has the former at this point – not so much the latter. Ketanji Brown Jackson comes with a lot of abortion baggage that will make it hard for all but the retiring RINO’s to vote for her. Biden’s forces obviously think they have the Democrat votes but I’m not so sure. There aren’t nearly as many Senators retiring to avoid the midterms and Jackson may not sit well with the folks back home. We’ll find out once the real fight starts.
The less said about Biden’s discussion of Ukraine, the better. That distraction pulled attention away from the Freedom Convoy but it will put the Jackson nomination on a backburner as well, giving the Republicans plenty of time to do their homework. Biden needs the distraction the war provides – but it may cost him even more long term.
To be semi-fair, Biden can’t order American troops into Ukraine without making a really bad thing much, much worse. Despite the rhetoric, sanctions have an effect but it’s a really slow one – and we’d like a really fast solution to make the Russians stop bombing Ukrainians. I’m one of the few who thinks the midterms are on course to being a complete rout of the Democrat party – but even I didn’t think they could find a way to make it worse for themselves. I’m beginning to wonder if the Democrats will hold ANY contested seats by next year. Biden needs a quick win in Ukraine and he’s not going to get it. His party will suffer severely for that.
All in all, it was a pretty typical State of the Union – excepting the rambling – in a very atypical time. An opportunity to begin a turnaround and to show strength and leadership utterly wasted. Beyond the party implications, I’m not sure it matters.
Maybe that’s why nobody came.
