What are we to make of the president’s Frankenspeech before Congress Tuesday night?
About the best that could be said is that it was 45 minutes longer than many expected he would be able to remain upright and coherent – although he did begin to lose focus pretty noticeably near the end. So, well done on that.
The speech opened with an oddly celebratory air – “…we prepared extensively and carefully. We spent months building coalitions… I spent countless hours unifying our European Allies… the free world is holding him accountable…” Yet in Eastern Europe, Vlad the Terrible’s butchery in Ukraine continues unabated. I wonder how many Ukrainians died while Biden was patting himself on the back?
Then came the windy grandiosity about destroying the Russian economy, seizing the assets of Russian Oligarchs, supporting Ukraine and – the ultimate blow for Putin – releasing 30 million barrels of oil from our strategic petroleum reserve. That’s a bit over a month’s worth of our imports from Russia, for those who are curious: a drop in the proverbial bucket. And apparently, Vlad is undeterred. As of latest reports, the slaughter in Ukraine goes on.
This pastiche of delusional self-congratulation seemed like a paper-maché nosecone glued onto a blowup ICBM stuffed with the usual leftist nostrums. High drug prices? Blame drug companies – you know, the folks who developed COVID treatments in record time, saving countless lives. Supply-chain problems? Blame transportation companies. Crime? Blame guns. Call for Congress to make it possible for people to sue firearms companies because, well – tobacco lawsuits. Someone should have told Joe that while there is no Constitutional right to smoke, there is one to own firearms. And that making and selling firearms is what makes it possible to own them. Connect the dots, for Christ’s sake. But that seems beyond him…
Blame inflation on anyone else. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with pouring tankerloads of money into the economy while production and distribution of goods are depressed by a deliberate policy of limits. Too much money chasing too few goods? So what?
There was the usual plagiarism from his predecessor’s ideas which polled well: spend tax dollars here; buy American; spend money on real, physical infrastructure; be aware of China’s focus on supplanting us; get back to a normal public and work life; support the police. Too bad the ideas weren’t his.
There was the plain old loopy: help fight inflation by raising wages. Child care paid for by someone else. Community college education paid for by someone else. Protect our borders by giving citizenship to those who have crossed them illegally.
And what Mark Twain used to call “stretchers.” Like the old boast that he had created “over 6.5 million new jobs just last year, more jobs in one year than ever before…” Even the ultra-Liberal Austin American Statesman couldn’t stomach that one. It dryly noted that since 1940, Joe’s rate of job creation has been exceeded ten times. I would add that these jobs are not in any sense “new.” According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in January of 2020, 158.8 million Americans were employed in nonfarm jobs. Last month the figure was 157.1 million. Joe isn’t even up to scratch yet.
And on it went, getting more vague and stumbly toward the end. As an American who values my country’s image, thank God he – or someone – decided to pull the plug when they did. “Go get ‘em?” I wonder what Vlad the Butcher made of that? Or his fellow thug president-for-life Xi?
Meanwhile in Ukraine, Russian invasion forces shelled Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, igniting multiple fires.
Things not to think on much if one wants to sleep nights.
