Shaving 20 years off his age, President Joe Biden came out with force and vigor in a sweeping State of the Union, the highlight of which was successfully baiting the MAGA Republican members, although he avoided use of the term.
About a half-hour in, he carefully said “some” Republicans would sunset Social Security and Medicare, which is a fact. Not “most,” but “some.”
But that bait was taken by the Freedom Caucus freaks, who started booing and heckling. The inimitable GOP congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was caught on camera shouting at the president.
Grinning, he said if that was the case, let’s stand up for seniors, which forced Republicans to their feet. He said, with a grin, he’d look forward to their support in protecting the entitlement programs. It was a trap well sprung.
His delivery had to throw a spike into the notion from the right that he is diminished and in a mental fog.
He sort of broke with tradition by delivering the State of the Union — “strong” — not at the beginning, but at the end.
In more than an hour, he struck the themes that America is characterized by progress and resilience.
He largely ignored or grinned at the rude heckling, and smiled when he got a huge laugh when he said, “We will need gas and oil for at least a decade.”
This may have rankled hard-core environmentalists, but it was a brush with reality, even though he said he planned 500,000 electric charging stations. We will need oil and gas for more than a while.
He did the expected and rattled off a laundry list of accomplishments, from gun control, to capping costs for insulin, to even ending junk fees, and noncompete clauses. Not exactly a burning issue.
Looking forward, there was the usual liberal wish list, plus a mention of the Memphis murder of Tyre Nichols, morphing to a statement supporting police. A neat double play that got the chamber on its feet.
China, Ukraine, immigration, LGBT got brief mentions.
After his speech, he lingered in the chamber, BSing with the Honorables.
If there was any doubt he will run again, it was removed Tuesday night.
The Dems want to tear apart the greatest economic system the world has ever seen and replace it with…what? Dreams?
Not even Bernie wants to kill the system. He just wants to adjust the payout so more people benefit. In his heart, he knows capitalism produces, but it can be heartless.
As Churchill so eloquently put it, “The inherent value of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.” Capitalism may, at times, be ‘heartless,’ but socialism is ALWAYS thus.
A crazy generalization that is untrue. Ask Scandinavia.
C’mon! Scandinavia?
So your position is that we should eliminate Social Security and Medicare? These are clearly “socialist” programs.
No, those are programs that exist within a democratic system of government. They are not a form of government unto themselves. If you want government to run your life in toto, then by all means keep voting for Democrats. As I have said over and over, “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American voter.”
The GOP has no plans to pass any meaningful legislation on anything benefiting the American people. They just obstruct, investigate stupid made up shit and engage in rude heckling. What a waste of taxpayer resources. We need to vote them all out.
Are you telling us the American people are doing better today under Biden and the democrats. Everyone I talk to thinks we are worse off.
She doesn’t have to “tell” you. All she has to do is look at the actual economic facts of the matter. Turn off the Faux “News” and you might actually learn the truth. But you won’t. You are too invested in your narrative of falsehoods to ever understand the truth again. Shame.
Biden destroyed the economy. What economic facts are you talking about. Everyone I know is worse off since he became president including my democrat friends. Many of them are leaving the party because they went to far left.
Unemployment at historic low. End of Trump’s term: 6.3%. Today 3.4%.
Biden admin: Manufacturing jobs up by 744,000.
But remember Trump’s “easy to win” trade war?
“The Trump administration has taken credit for ‘reshoring’ manufacturing jobs, but the data show that isn’t true. Nearly 1,800 factories have disappeared under Trump between 2016 and 2018…Additionally, the U.S. trade deficit in manufactured goods rose significantly between 2016 and 2019.”https://www.epi.org/press/trumps-trade-policies-have-cost-thousands-of-u-s-manufacturing-jobs-action-is-urgently-needed-to-rebuild-the-manufacturing-sector-after-the-coronavirus-pandemic/
“Trump promised to make sure energy pipelines were made of American iron and steel. But he never followed through, and workers lost jobs in pipe and tube mills.” “In no year of the Trump administration was the trade deficit lower than in any of the eight years of the Obama administration. The highest three annual goods trade deficits on record in U.S. history are 2018, 2019 and 2020. Those all came under Trump. “https://www.americanmanufacturing.org/blog/what-did-donald-trump-accomplish-for-american-manufacturing/
As of October 2020:
“The rate of factory job creation under Trump, even when you strip out the coronavirus recession that we’re currently neck-deep in, is roughly the same steady but slow rate it was under the eight years of the Obama administration…Put the coronavirus numbers back in, and the rate under Trump is much worse. The 66,000 factory jobs created last month puts the national manufacturing employment total at about 12.2 million – 600,000 factory jobs less in America than there were a year ago.”
Industrial productivity up under Biden. That means there is room for wage hikes without fueling inflation.
Wages up over 5%. True, inflation outstripped that, but inflation has been falling for the last six months. “For the first year and a half of Biden’s presidency, inflation-adjusted wages fell. But over the past two quarters, wage gains finally started to outpace inflation.” https://www.politifact.com/article/2023/feb/06/whats-the-economic-state-of-the-union-under-joe-bi/
Bloomberg news predicts: “year-over-year CPI will be 4.7% in the next month, 2.68% six months from now and 2.25% within a year, or just a quarter of a percentage point above the Fed’s target, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Biden may be presiding over the worst cost of living rise in four decades, but the trend increasingly is his friend with unemployment at 50-year lows.”
There is a reason the GOP is stuck on the 2020 election and Hunter Biden. The economic issue won’t help them in 2024. In any event, given that the GOP cure for the economy is to slash or simply eliminate Social Security, they won’t want to talk about that either.
And I don’t know who you are talking to, but are they really worse off now than they were during the pandemic? Not true of my business.
Inflation has gone through the roof due to many factors all around the world genius. Again, facts and data. But you go on and magically think that global inflation is due to one person. BTW, it is already stabilizing — facts and data.
It’s pointless to talk facts dear Freeze. These people live in their own echo chamber. Hence the “everyone I know (talk to) thinks” as opposed to looking at the data. I thought it was a terrific speech and the GQP hecklers did not do their party proud. They just reinforced their troglodyte image.
How’s this for data. Inflation has gone thru the roof since Biden has been in office.
The state of the union is weak because of the Biden administration. That is a fact.
Stu, why didn’t you touch on how Biden diminished the State of the Union message? E.g., making silly promises about correcting ticket prices, ending the $50.00 charge airlines impose on families wanting to sit together, telephone and cable charges…etc. These ‘problems’ deserve the attention of the Congress of the United States? Talk about pandering to the voters! The State of the Union message is supposed to be a grand picture of the nation’s direction and aims, not a menu of petty promises amounting to nothing. A shameful act by a small, petty man. May G-d protect our nation in the coming years.
Because I choose the elements I feel are noteworthy. That means leaving out things others like. They are free to write essays featuring what they think are important.