President Biden will deliver his State of the Union address today, far later than prior dates. As every president does, he will attempt to provide a rosy picture of his young Administrations’ accomplishments in dealing with challenges.
Far more than any of his predecessors since the end of the Second World War, however, his record in both foreign and domestic affairs is bleak, even disastrous. He tacitly acknowledged this when he pled with the media to give him even more favorable coverage. It is also evident in his personal reluctance to respond to press inquiries, and press secretary Jen Psaki’s minimal responses to questions she finds uncomfortable.
A thoroughly transparent and accurate recitation of the true State of the Union would not be pleasant.
Russia has invaded Ukraine. China is threatening Taiwan. Iran is developing nuclear weapons to destroy Israel. The Taliban is parading around Afghanistan in captured American weapons.
Moscow now has a larger nuclear arsenal, thanks to an agreement penned during the Obama-Biden Administration. Beijing has a larger Navy, due to the refusal of the President’s party to agree to adequate military funding. Both have the proven capability to destroy American satellites, potentially leaving the Pentagon deaf, dumb and blind. Both have hypersonic missile capabilities Washington lacks.
The nation’s reputation endured a massive black eye from the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In response to all this, Biden originally presented a defense budget that cut the military’s purchasing power by 3%.
The southern border is open, and hundreds of thousands of illegals, including COVID-positive individuals, members of criminal cartels, human traffickers, and terrorists are among the many others storming into the nation.
At home, criminals are running amok, devastating American cities. Much of this is due to unrealistic and radical policies regarding bail and incarceration that Mr. Biden tactily agrees with. Excessively lenient policies have reversed the hard work and solid achievements that took decades to attain.
The U.S. budget is, if it were a private organization, bankrupt. Not only has that deeply troubling fact been ignored by the current White House, but a vast amount of additional debt has been piled on top of it.
Inflation is devastating the lives of the American people, a direct result of the current White House’s policies.
The educational system, despite ever increasing funding, produces poor results, with student competency rates in key areas declining. Instead of concentrating on fundamentals, schools push sexual, cultural and political propaganda. When parents complain, they are labelled terrorists by the Biden Justice Department.
That same Department of Justice continues to turn a blind eye towards the blatant violations of the law by Hillary Clinton and the Biden family. It ignores the wrongdoing of Adam Schiff when he assured Americans that he had evidence that Trump colluded with Russia, which it has now been conclusively proven that nothing of the sort occurred and no such evidence ever existed.
Race relations continue to be tense. Much of that is due to the eagerness of the President and his party to encourage hostility as a way to gin up their base, and to push a narrative of “systemic racism” even when there is not a single law or regulation that permits racism.
Mr. Biden’s signature issue is his stated determination to fight COVID. He and his party conveniently forget that, when the Trump Administration banned travel from China when the Pandemic began, they called him “xenophobic.” When the Trump White House developed a vaccine in record time, many in the President’s party claimed that it was unsafe or ineffective and discouraged its use.
Mr. Biden promised to defeat COVID. There have been more COVID deaths during the first year of his Administration than in 2020.
A State of the Union admission of these issues, and a promise to change course, would go a long way in restoring Americans faith in their government.
Illustration: Historic view of House Chamber (U.S. House of Representatives)