I didn't expect to watch President Biden's State of the Union Address to Congress last night, so instead of live-blogging here, I live-commented on Facebook. Some highlights, with annotations as needed:
- MTG didn't even let him get to the podium before snarking at him. She's the Nobby Nobbs of the House
- Sweden's PM is sitting to Jill Biden's left. Wow. That's a message about NATO
- Wow, someone ate his Wheaties today. "Many of you were here [on January 6th]. ... But they failed! Democracy prevailed!"
- "You can't love your country only when you win."
- Mike Johnson looks like he needs to change his diaper
- "My predecessor failed the most basic duty, the duty to care." Cue first Republican outburst
- Despite my best efforts, Cassie appears disappointingly nonpartisan:
- Somebody get Mike Johnson a Pepto-Bismol
- "The state of our Union is strong and getting stronger!" (Four more years!)
- Seriously, did Mike Johnson take a large gummie before the speech? He looks like he's dissociating...
- "America is safer than 4 years ago... Violent crime fell to the lowest level in 50 years" (And an incoherent protestor is escorted from the gallery?)
- "The only real solution is a two-state solution. ... There is no other path that guarantees peace between Israel and all of its neighbors."
Of course, many more-qualified people also had reactions. Here are just a few:
- Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post fact checker: "Biden’s job record in his first three years certainly tops Trump’s performance. ... The U.S. inflation rate is much better than the OECD average of 5.7 percent. But other G-7 members such as Japan, Italy and Germany had lower inflation rates as of January. ... A Rand study published last month, using 2022 data, concluded that across all drugs, U.S. prices were 2.78 times higher than prices in 33 other countries that are part of the OECD."
- Josh Marshall: "I thought this was a strong speech."
- Assorted New York Times columnists, starting with Gail Collins: "For Biden, the speech was a real rouser."
- Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times: "Biden’s speech set the stage for the reset he needs on the Israel-Hamas war."
- Michael Tomasky: "[President Biden] threw punches—and he landed almost all of them. But let’s not talk about Biden. Let’s talk instead about that little guy in the chair over the president’s left shoulder. House Speaker Mike Johnson showed, in his histrionic facial expressions, everything that’s wrong and idiotic and dangerous and even treasonous about the Republican Party."
As for the official opposition response that US Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) delivered, I could barely watch. Her entire demeanor and manner made my skin crawl. It was like watching a high-school junior work up fake outrage in a campaign speech for class secretary, except Tracy Flick probably wouldn't have worked in all the comments about rape and murder.
Michael Bender and Kayla Guo summed it up best: "With a sunny, inviting smile, Senator Katie Britt of Alabama welcomed Americans into her kitchen on Thursday night. Many soon backed away nervously." Monica Hesse also got a little skeeved out: "Somehow, despite also being a White 42-year-old mom who watched the State of the Union from my own kitchen, I did not feel I was her target audience."
One of my friends posted "Katie Britt proves it’s hard to find normal people in Alabama not on a football scholarship," at which I reminded him that, looked at one way, she is on a football scholarship.
I enjoyed this SOTU a lot. And I'm very much looking forward to hearing President Biden's Second Inaugural in 10 months.