President's State of the Union rant was nothing if not authentic
By Don Feder
Some wonder if the anger on display in the State of the Union address was contrived — macho posturing designed to convince the party faithful that President Biden is Give ’Em Hell Harry who, like Harry S. Truman in 1948, will beat the odds to win the election.
But the president’s hourlong rant was nothing if not authentic. Mr. Biden’s rage is legendary, as his aides can attest.
In a new Forbes/Harris poll, 54% said the State of the Union raised questions about the president’s age. So, a performance meant to reassure us did the opposite.
No matter what he does, the president can’t shake the impression that he belongs in a wheelchair with a blanket tucked around his legs instead of in the Oval Office.
At least subconsciously, Mr. Biden must realize that he’s a mediocre man whose job far exceeds his abilities.
He has been successful only as a grifter who, with the help of his son, scammed tens of millions of dollars from foreign entities to benefit his extended family.
Once he won the Democratic primary in deep blue Delaware in 1972, he had a job for life. He spent 35 undistinguished years in the Senate. No one can recall a major law he sponsored.
He was chosen as then-Sen. Barack Obama’s running mate in 2008 to answer the concerns party regulars had about a man who was then a relative unknown at the head of the ticket.
Mr. Biden became the Democratic nominee in 2020 as a compromise candidate the others could reluctantly get behind.
The party was terrified of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont as the nominee. The avowed democratic socialist would have wiped out down-ticket candidates.
Mr. Biden came in fourth in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire, behind Mr. Sanders, Pete Buttigieg (then the mayor of South Bend, Indiana), Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Amy Klobuchar. He didn’t win a primary until South Carolina.
He won the 2020 general election by hiding in his basement, with COVID as the excuse, but has found it impossible to govern.
His unpopularity as an incumbent is exceeded only by that of former President Jimmy Carter, who won just six states and the District of Columbia in 1980. It looks like Mr. Biden is going for that record.
On every major issue — the economy, immigration, crime — the president is under water. He’s losing traditional Democratic constituencies, including Hispanics and the young. That’s enough to depress anyone in his position. Depression and rage are often related.
His anger might be the only thing about the president that’s real.
He’s a Catholic who believes in abortion through the ninth month and same-sex marriage.
Lunch-bucket Joe? He wouldn’t even know how to open one. He went from law school to a position in local government to the Senate. Except for four years between Mr. Obama’s second term and the beginning of his administration, the president hasn’t spent a day in the private sector in half a century.
The man who’s supposed to bring us all together started by insulting voters who vexed him during the 2020 campaign. He told a Detroit factory worker he was “full of s—-” for challenging him on gun control.
The State of the Union, where he attacked the Supreme Court, was only the latest installment of Dark Brandon.
After the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, he pledged his undying devotion to the Jewish state. Now he’s trying to save Hamas by limiting Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip and building a port to bring supplies into jihad-istan.
After letting 10 million illegals into the country, he’s now a champion of immigration reform, by which he means “regulating the flow” of “undocumented” newcomers.
He blames Republicans for the chaos at the border because they’ve refused to pass a bill not to secure the border but to control the intake. The border being overwhelmed on a daily basis isn’t a good visual in an election year.
He’s Mr. Pay Your Fair Share, yet his son is a tax cheat.
His administration has been a roller-coaster ride through hell. He’s given us 18% inflation since he took office, an urban crime wave, a national debt that grows by $1 trillion every three months, broken borders, and multiple foreign crises.
At the bottom of Mr. Biden’s rage lies a deep-seated inferiority complex. That’s why he’s so vicious when challenged.
When told that Stanley Baldwin, one of his predecessors as prime minister, was a modest man, Winston Churchill quipped, “He has much to be modest about.”
President Biden has much to feel inferior about.