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.
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