The backdrop for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union lecture may have been the House chamber, but it occurred in an alternate reality. Taking place inside Nancy Pelosi’s newly re-erected fence (at the bargain price of only $1 million of your tax dollars), you’d be forgiven for confusing our Capitol for Ukraine’s. And with the science conveniently changing (the Centers for Disease Control is less a scientific organization than a political arm of Big Government) hours before a nationally televised event, where Biden desperately tried to reset the narrative to a post-pandemic world, many of my colleagues from across the aisle were showing their mask-less faces for the first time in two years.
It was a completely different room from the one where I’ve been voting for 14 months.
Not that I attended. With the ridiculous COVID testing requirements, I chose to watch his attempt to rewrite history on TV with some of my colleagues. Believe me, hearing Jim Jordan’s commentary from my couch was much better than being surrounded by cheering socialists.
What we got from Biden was less speechwriter spin than science fiction. Right off the bat, Biden smugly took a victory lap on Ukraine even as anyone with a social media account could watch the Russian military prepare to encircle and shell the capital city of Kyiv. The self-professed foreign policy expert furiously patted himself on the back for knowing what Putin was preparing to do for five months while admitting he was unable to prevent it. Remember, former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates said in 2014 that Biden “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” Make it five!
Thank God for the mythic courage of the Ukrainian (no, not Iranian) people. We can argue about the proper U.S. role in helping Ukraine, but there’s no question the Biden administration has been hapless in Eastern Europe. No, they didn’t suddenly learn basic foreign policy after their shameful Afghanistan surrender.
One of his more disingenuous claims is that he created 6.5 million jobs. That notion is, to borrow a word from his vernacular, “malarkey.” The policies of his own party in Washington and liberal cities across the nation sent these workers home in the first place. Now that the crushing weight of public disapproval has forced the reopening of our economy, Biden doesn’t get to claim credit for recreating jobs his policies had previously destroyed. Again, he is living in a fantasy land.
What cannot be hidden is that American families are reeling from Biden’s self-inflicted economic fallout. Biden assured us he was getting serious about addressing inflation, conveniently forgetting to mention it was the runaway federal spending he and his party continue to unleash that is fueling it. And what weapon did he vow to draw to tame the inflationary beast? More spending! I’d say that the inmates are running the asylum, but that’s an insult to inmates.
Perhaps most outrageously, Biden pontificated about border security and immigration reform. This is from a man who spent 36 years in the Senate and eight as Vice President shredding the rule of law at our border. On Day 1 of his administration, he began dismantling all of President Trump’s progress at our border, ushering in record illegal immigration, deadly drugs like fentanyl plaguing Americans, and human trafficking.
Of course, his rhetoric will amount to nothing. Did he offer a plan? No. But if you think he’ll ask for any funding for a wall at our southern border, keep dreaming. Perhaps he could borrow some of Pelosi’s fencing. I’ve had my CDL for over 20 years, and I’d gladly help haul it to Arizona.
And don’t get me started about his laughable “fund the police” line. He spent the entire campaign season of 2020 offering unreserved support for the woke “defund the police” rioters demonizing our law enforcement officers and tearing apart American cities.
Look, I am all for buying American. But the best thing Joe Biden could do for American farmers, manufacturers, and small businesses is to end the ridiculous mandates and obscene regulatory burden he has placed on their backs. Let’s unleash the American economy, and our folks can compete with anyone in the world. They don’t need more government mandates to compete! Ronald Reagan nailed it when he said the government’s views on the economy are if it moves tax it, if it keeps moving regulate it, and if it fails subsidize it. It’s no coincidence Reagan knew Senator Biden.
Nothing Biden has done has been more impactful than his war on American energy. There was nothing strategic about his move to release 30 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Not only is the SPR supposed to be used for emergencies, but 30 million barrels is literally a drop in the barrel compared to the 830,000 barrels of oil per day the Keystone XL Pipeline would be providing to the U.S.—if Biden hadn’t killed the project on the first day of his presidency. Right now, gas is $3.68 per gallon in Enterprise, $3.69 in Troy, and $3.75 in Montgomery. Thanks, Biden!
Before mercifully ending his yarn, Biden summoned his remaining strength to declare that the state of the union is “strong!” Maybe he thinks he can lull us into his altered reality, but the American people living daily through the consequences of his policies know better. With our foes emboldened, allies looking elsewhere for leadership, and the American people hurting, it will take real leadership that can set politics aside and accept reality to return us to a strong footing.
Barry Moore, from Enterprise, represents Alabama’s Second Congressional District. First elected in 2020, Moore serves on the House Agriculture Committee and the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to Commentary@1819News.com.
