You Kids Get Off My Longevity
During the State of the Union address, Joe Biden basically yelled at Republicans, “Get off my lawn!” And in this case his lawn is the future of democracy and the modern world order. Look, a campaign year State of Union address isn’t the kind of thing that’s necessarily going to move undecided voters in an election 8 months away. But it can fire up the base (Biden just had his biggest fundraising day) and it can address lingering questions, the primary one in this case being about Biden’s age. After last night’s speech, described by just about everyone as feisty, the argument that Biden is too old isn’t aging well. Here are few more takeaways from the night that The Atlantic’s David Graham describes as, The Most Unusual State of the Union in Living Memory (which seems like a particularly low bar since most Americans have not remembered any State of the Union for much longer than about 45 minutes post completion). First, even in these crazy MAGA times, it’s notable that we’ve lived long enough to see a president quote Reagan and only the Democrats clap. But that wasn’t the half of it. Biden’s speech was heavily combative to be sure, but no matter what he brought up, only half the chamber cheered. “The pandemic no longer controls our lives. The vaccines that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat cancer.” Half. “American roads bridges and highways will be made with American products built by American workers creating good-paying American jobs.” Half. “Respect free and fair elections! Restore trust in our institutions! And make clear — political violence has absolutely no place in America! ” Half. And when Biden called for more humanitarian assistance in Gaza and the pursuit of a two state solution? Half. Anyway, I haven’t told you the half of it, so watch the event for yourself.
+ As much yelling as there was from the podium, there was a lot more in the crowd. WaPo: Mike Johnson asked for ‘decorum.’ Republicans ignored him.
+ The night was not without unity. Pretty much everyone seemed to agree that Sen Katie Britt’s kitchen counter rebuttal was weird. (Full disclosure, I couldn’t stand the heat and got out of the kitchen right after the line, “Good evening America.”)
+ Maybe the clearest indicator of what this election is about is Biden opening a SOTU describing the risks to democracy from within contrasted with Trump welcoming Hungary’s authoritarian Viktor Orban to Mar-a-Lago. The MAGA model for returning to power and dismantling democracy. (Related: The Republican National Committee on Friday elected Trump-backed Michael Whatley and Lara Trump to take over the committee.”)
+ All of this is why I’m currently a one issue voter: Pro Democracy.
