A Brief Note on Biden’s State of the Union Speech and Sanders’ Response

 I always watch the State of the Union speeches.  Since I first began to understand America in my Junior High Civics class I have believed it is my duty as a citizen to listen to these often boring, angering, or sometimes joyful events.  I want to hear and see the entire ordeal rather than take various reporters’ interpretations of the event.  I also watch the opposition’s response.

Last night’s affair was in many ways not unusual (even if it sort of looked like the start of a real affair when the first lady and the second gentleman had a good smooch on the lips, but then I guess that’s Washington today).  Below are my brief reactions to the President’s State of the Union speech and to Governor Sanders’ response.

Biden’s speech

At some point during Biden’s long and mostly boring speech I decided that the President engages in some sort of magical thinking.  So many lies, misleading statements, and half-truths came out of his mouth that I quickly lost count.  I think that Biden gave us a litany of things he wishes to be true.  The problem is that he states these things as fact - he believes what he says and he expects us to believe it too

I am not a psychologist, but is this the pattern of a pathological liar?  Joe’s lies go back at least as far as his law school plagiarism days.  On the campaign trail he has related tales of things he has done which prove to be entirely false.

So the lies did not surprise me.  I actually expect them from this President.  I realize that all our presidents have lied to us about some things, but Joe’s lies are different.  He lies about things that he doesn’t have to.  A president might lie about something because he must, as for example when Kennedy had to keep secret the discussions he and Khrushchev were having about the Cuban Missile Crisis. A president might lie or obfuscate if he has committed some offense (think Nixon and Watergate or Clinton and Monica Lewinsky).  And of course, on the campaign trail, candidates puff up their accomplishments and records.  But Biden lies about things that don’t matter as well as those that do and about easily proven falsehoods (why has he told us he was a truck driver when he was not; why has he lied about trips to the border?).  

I really think Biden can’t help himself, and he certainly gave us a parade of untruths in his speech last night.  The fact checkers are busy and if you google the fact checks of last night’s speech you will find few statements labeled as true, some will be labeled as false, and the majority will indicate that significant context has been left out, thus making the statement misleading at best.

Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution states that the President “shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

I do not really think that what Biden gave us was an honest description of the state of the union.  It was more of a speech that took credit that was not due for past activities and a wish list of what he would do if re-elected.  That wish list included sideways attacks on Republicans who we can be sure he will blame if the many government and socialistic programs he outlined do not come to pass.

Perhaps because I expect the lies, however, what bothers me more is that people don’t question Biden’s statements.  Indeed, Americans seem to have forgotten that they can and should question what they are told.  They should at least ask for some proof of the claims being made.  But they do not.  And that indeed troubles me more than the lies themselves. 

People are grading Biden’s speech; I would give him a C.  The content of the speech was probably below that, but the fact that it was delivered in such a way that most Americans will just accept what he said without question raises it to the C level.

Sanders’ Response

Overall, I thought Sanders’ response was not effective.   I was disappointed and had expected more from her.

The speech sounded like a generic Republican campaign speech.  I was looking for a response – a rebuttal to Biden’s lies and false promises.  

Clearly Sanders had prepared her speech in advance and she delivered it with compassion, but I wondered if she had even listened to Biden’s speech.  She certainly had time to insert some specific and pointed rebuttals during the time between the end of Biden’s speech and the beginning of hers – the time while the mainstream media commentators were lavishing Biden with praise, buying all his lies without question.

But no, she gave us a campaign speech that really said nothing new.  Her story of her secret trip to Iraq with President Trump was very moving, but in the end it did not really relate to Biden’s speech.  She repeatedly told us that Republicans are the good guys and Democrats bad (or crazy).  But we hear that and its reverse every day depending on which news outlets we visit. 

Biden’s speech was open to so many attacks based on both factual inaccuracies along with political philosophy.  This response missed a huge opportunity.  My grade for this one is a D.

In conclusion

I would have liked to have seen the honesty of Pres. Ford (see below)  in Biden’s speech and a true rebuttal from Sanders.

War, What is it good for?

 In the 1970 song “War”, the answer to the above question is “absolutely nothing” but in the real world, in the political world, sadly it too often serves the needs of the powerful who have only their own interests in mind. 

I am tired of watching the people of Ukraine suffer as they serve as the proxy victims in our proxy war against Russia.  I realize that they do not think of themselves that way, but my reading of this war and the complicated history leading to it directs me to that conclusion. 

President Putin of Russia fired the first shot, but before that shot was fired many besides Putin marched in the parade toward war.  Few took the time to understand the Russian mindset and the complicated history between Russia and Ukraine, or to acknowledge the West’s aggressive enticement of Ukraine to become a fully Western State.  There were few if any real attempts to negotiate a settlement of sorts that would have prevented war, gained a stronger democracy for Ukraine, and appeased Russia’s fears of the West.

A brief and highly abridged history

As part of the Pontic Steppe in Eastern Europe, the area now known as Ukraine has been an important and sought after part of that geographical area since prehistoric times.  Many Russians see Kyiv (Rus) as the birthplace of Russia.  Ukraine has come under the rule of several rulers and other countries. During the 1600s, in order to escape Polish-Lithuanian rule, Ukraine sought protection from Russia which led to its rule by Tsarist Russia.  In the late 1700s, the far west of Ukraine fell under Austrian control while the rest became part of Russia.

At the time of the Russian revolution, Ukraine tried to break free of Russia.  In 1919 several armies fought one another in Ukraine - Kyiv changed hands 6 times.  In 1921, Ukraine was incorporated into Soviet Russia.  During WWII, much of Ukraine supported and fought with the Nazis whom Ukrainians saw as liberators from Russia.  Russians were united against the Nazis and their supporters, and the Ukrainian Nazi support continues to be a sore spot with Russians to this day.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine became an independent state.  In 2004 the “Orange Revolution” revealed a Ukraine clearly divided between those Ukrainians, many of whom are ethnic Russians, who wanted to maintain strong ties with Russia, and those who were more interested in creating ties with the West and its organizations such as NATO.

Russia, for its part, includes both those who would like to see Soviet Russia restored including full incorporation of Ukraine into Russia as well as those who back an independent and westernized Ukraine.  Russia, however, generally silences opposition to its official pro-war stance.

War moves from likelihood to certainty

It would be naïve to think that both Russia and the West were not both doing all that they could to influence Ukraine and its people to become their allies.  The steppe upon which Ukraine sits is politically and strategically important.   Not only is the land incredibly fertile, it provides a buffer zone between Russia and the West/NATO countries.  The eastern portion of Ukraine is militarily significant in its location as a possible staging area for attacks on Russia.

The Russian Federation annexed Crimea in 2014 and has fought with Ukraine over other eastern portions of Ukraine since then.  In 2016 Ukraine joined an agreement with the European Union that allowed trade and visa-free travel between Ukraine and the EU.  In 2019 Ukraine amended its Constitution to put it on a stated path towards membership in the EU and NATO.  The original plan was to formally apply for EU membership in 2024, but that was moved forward, and the application was made in early February 2022.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin began more assertively voicing his opposition to Ukraine joining NATO, in part because of the military threat to Russia of NATO having the ability to place missiles or other military equipment at the border with Russia.   Here one must remember that NATO was established to counter the threat posed by the then Soviet Union and its mission continues to be to secure its member countries against Russia.   Since the fall of Soviet Russia NATO has aggressively sought to expand its membership.  Whether this is a threat to Russia in reality or not is less important than the fact that Russia sees this as a threat.

Throughout 2021 Russia moved its troops to the Ukrainian border, obviously building towards a potential invasion.  During that time the United States, while condemning the buildup, took no real action against it.  President Biden threatened sanctions etc., but it was always too little too late and in the opinion of many only presented a face of weakness to Russia that encouraged Putin to be more aggressive. 

To others, many of the statements made by President Biden seemed to be goading President Putin into taking military action.  Why he might do that is open to speculation, but a war would distract from the rising inflation and other problems he was and is facing in this country, it would create someone (Russia/Putin) to blame for continuing economic problems,  it might make Biden some sort of hero (he did keep putting forth the idea that this was going to be his Cuban Missile Crisis so perhaps he thought it would gain him a Kennedy-like respect), and then there is the fact that since he was a Senator, Biden has made no secret of the fact that he hates Putin.

Shortly after Ukraine made its application to NATO, and after Biden effectively gave Putin no possible way to withdraw without losing face, on Feb. 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine.

Whose war is it?

The United States and other Western and NATO countries proclaimed their support for Ukraine.  Ukraine asked for money – we sent it.  Ukraine asked for military equipment – we sent it.  Finding the precise figure of aid, both military and humanitarian, to Ukraine is difficult, but it is somewhere around $50 billion in 2022 in direct aid and over $100 billion if one counts indirect aid.  The majority of that is for defense, and the funding does not show any sign of ceasing.  We are sending our store of weapons  - tanks, missiles, guns, and other military equipment - and that too shows no sign of ceasing, even though we are so depleted that this country is in a position where it does not have the ability to defend itself. 

Ukrainian President Zelensky has done a marvelous job of building strength and unity amongst his people.  He also does a wonderful job of begging the West and U.S.  for money to support them.  Many people of that country are firm in their belief that with the U.S. behind them and supplying them, that they can defeat Russia without making any concessions whatsoever.  Indeed, many believe that they can even see Crimea returned. 

With this confidence inspired by the U.S. and other backers, they are not interested in negotiating an end to the fighting.  This Ukrainian digging in and belief in total victory might be far less strong if not for US and other Western support.  So, are the Ukrainians fighting their war, or are we, the West, fighting that war?  And if it is we who are fighting it then why is it Ukrainian and not our blood that is being spilled?

Why isn’t the thought of peace even on the table?

If we really cared about the Ukrainian people as we say we do, then why aren’t we seeking peaceful solutions to end this; solutions that indeed might result in some territory loss but that would end the loss of life?

Yet instead we escalate.  In 2022 President Biden told us that sending tanks to Ukraine would result in World War 3.  In January of 2023 he announced he would send tanks to Ukraine.  We are going to train the Ukrainians on how to use the tanks, bringing them to the U.S. for that training.  When one of those tanks kills a Russian is that an aggression by Ukraine or by the United States?  And Putin has threatened use of nuclear weapons if the United States or NATO countries are the ones actually fighting this war.

If this does become World War 3, then we are going to have a hard time since our weapons stockpiles will be empty and parts to rebuild often come from China who will likely be aligned with Russia and not inclined to assist us.  Does our President even consider let alone understand such things? Does he understand that it is young Ukrainians dying for his cause?  Does he care?

Where are the diplomats, the peacemakers who will use reason and negotiation rather than human life to solve their differences?  Let America lead on that front instead of as warmongers.

We are using the Ukrainians.  Perhaps they are using us as well.  But when their usefulness is over, will we care at all what happens to them?  I doubt it.  Because this is not really a war about freedom or democracy.  It is a war about a few men wanting to puff up and show off their power.

I close with a few lines from Edwin Starr’s 1970 song “War” written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong:

War, I despise

'Cause it means destruction of innocent lives

 

Life is much too short and precious

To spend fighting wars each day

War can't give life

It can only take it away, oh

 

Peace, love and understanding, tell me

Is there no place for them today?

They say we must fight to keep our freedom

But Lord knows there's got to be a better way, oh

 

War, huh (God y'all)

What is it good for? You tell me (nothing)

Say it, say it, say it, say it

 

War (good God), huh (now, huh)

What is it good for?

Stand up and shout it (nothing)