LOS ANGELES.–Democrats gear up for a make-or-break State-of-the-Union Speech with doubts growing with voters about 81-year-old President Joe Biden’s fitness for four more years. Voters don’t buy Biden’s sales pitch that “my memory is fine,” when Special Counsel Robert Hur concluded in his Feb. 5 388-page report that Biden suffers from severe memory impairments, a nightmare for Biden’s handlers trying to refute what’s obvious to most voters that Biden suffers from age-related cognitive decline. Biden’s State-of-the-Union is his last shot to show on big stage to a joint session of Congress that he’s fit for a second term While the State-of-the-Union is a heavily scripted teleprompter exercise, Biden’s speechwriter plan to make him look heroic in the economy and foreign policy. In both areas, most voters don’t have much confidence in the 81-year-old president who often looks confused, tripping too often reminding voters about his advanced age.
Biden will try to show as much pep-in-his-step to disprove all the naysayers about his age and cognitive issues. “Vitality is, of course, front and center,” said Patric Gaspard, head of the Center for American Progress, a Washington liberal think tank. “People won’t remember what you say. But they’ll remember how you make them feel,” Gaspard said, simplifying the high-wire act for Biden, not to look too energetic because it will seem phony to voters. “It’s high stakes,” said Jim Kessler, president of the centrist “Third Way” think tank “It’s a coin flip election, and this is the beginning of Biden making his case,” Kessler said, again knowing that voters must be convinced that Biden’s management of the economy and foreign policy are in line with expectations. Sending the economy into hyper-inflation and funding a proxy war in Ukraine with the Kremlin doesn’t breed the kind of confidence needed to sell voters he’s ready for another term.
Biden plans to bring to the State-of-Union the parents of Russian jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovitz, to highlight his attempts to get back American citizens from Russian jails. But Biden’s pitch could easily backfire because he’s already stood on his head to get another $60 billion in Ukraine War funding to continue battling the Kremlin. Voters know that the more belligerent Biden with 71-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin, the less likely Gershkovitz will ever get out of a Russian jail. Because of Biden’s proxy war with the Kremlin, Putin’s in no mood to negotiate the release of any American prisoners held in Russian jails, like 54-year-old former Marine Paul Whelan. Whelan’s family is fit-to-be-tied with Biden’s feeble efforts to get Whelan out. They accuse Biden of working hard to get out Black WNBA star Britney Griner due to her celebrity status. Meanwhile Whelan has been rotting in Russian prison since 2018.
Biden must convince voters he has a plan for the next four years, not one that leads to more inflation and perpetual war. Biden doesn’t want to highlight his foreign policy because it’s marred with abysmal relations with Russia and China, driving the two nuclear-armed superpowers into an economic, military and strategic alliance. “People are, to some extent, waiting to hear what their lives are going to be like if he’s reelected—and that part of what this speech is going to do,” said an anonymous White House adviser. “Even if it’s not an express theme, it must be about who Biden is fighting for and who he wants to serve,” not realizing that if voters sees more inflation and perpetual war it’s going to turn them off. Biden fights an uphill battle convincing voters that he’s done a good job managing the border crisis, but, more importantly, foreign policy.
Biden wants to tell voters if they stick with him in 2024, he’ll be lowering drug prices and serving the middle class, making homeownership more affordable. Yet Biden’s inflation has done just the opposite, forcing the Federal Reserve Board to hike interest rates to the point that consumer installment debt and homeownership is out of reach. White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates highlights “Biden’s “proven experience leadership” to create “more unprecedented, concrete results for real people,” touting Biden’s high employment economy. But Bates can’t explain how all of Biden’s leadership and experience got the U.S. into a reckless, costly war with the Kremlin without any end in sight? Biden’s proven leadership got the U.S. economy into the worst inflationary cycle since the days of former President Jimmy Carter when the Prime Interest Rate hit 21%.
Biden still faces big question about his fitness for another four years term as president. No matter how much energy he shows or how much red meat his speechwriters throw at Democrats in the House and Senate, voters still worry about his age and fitness for four more years. “You have two candidates who aren’t that different in age,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), on Biden’s national campaign advisory board. “The difference that voters will eventually come to understand is that there’s no comparison between their records,” said Garcia. Garcia knows that Trump had the economy growing without inflation and without a war in Ukraine against the Kremlin. Voters knows the cost of things in the stores, real pocket books issues, not whether Wall Street is up one day and down the other. Garcia thinks voters see the difference between Biden and Trump. He’s right.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
