State of the Union: President Joe 'Yeller' Biden, Followed by Senator Katie 'Crier' Britt

Watching the State of the Union address on Thursday night was painful. President Biden’s yelling throughout his speech had a clear purpose, and it worked—as far as loyal Democrats are concerned. Sen. Katie Britt’s rebuttal was also painful, but it didn’t work, not even for Republicans. 

I have seen enough of these events to know what to expect as far as the rampant lies, the exploited guests, the jumping up and down go. And let’s not forget the person looking for attention who has plans at just the right moment to interrupt the president like a toddler interrupting the babysitter reading a story. 

While much is old hat, this one was certainly different. What no one knew and everyone was wondering was how Biden would fare. We all know he’s dealing with what appears to be cognitive issues, and we all wanted to know if we would manage not to embarrass himself. The president “calls a lid,” as they say—in other words, he’s not available—once late afternoon/early evening hits. Individuals dealing with cognitive decline often don’t do well in the evening, some even experiencing what is called sundowning. I’m not saying Biden deals with this, as I’m not a doctor; I’m saying it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Whatever his issues, we’ve seen it, and many were wondering how the State of the Union would go for him.

The president arrived late, which grabbed the attention of the media and his political rival, former President Donald Trump, who took to Truth Social to write, “The President is very substantially late. Not a good start”:

He arrived, and once he took the podium and forgot that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was supposed to introduce him, he started his ultra-partisan speech, which some are calling unlike any State of the Union address they’ve ever witnessed—and that’s not a compliment.

The typical lies were there, the pandering was there, the inflated accomplishments were there, so that’s no different. But the degree to which he engaged in these drew intense criticism. His starting with Ukraine, rather than the United States; his love fest for Roe v. Wade; his pimping the lie that is the January 6 “insurrection” farce; his insult and threat to the Supreme Court, who were sitting there before him; his lackluster attention to the immigration crisis; and his infuriating stance that the state of the union is amazing, when we know that is just not true are just a few stomach-churning parts of his speech. He did not stand before the American people as the President of the United States. He stood as a Democrat, and he fed his fellow Democrats red meat and attacked his “predecessor,” although not by name, 13 times, according to Breitbart News. As Speaker Johnson pointed out, usually a president has some unifying words that get the opposition party’s Speaker to rise up and applaud alongside the Vice President of the United States. But Biden didn’t give much opportunity for that.

Besides all of that, however, what he did do, which everybody and their mommas are talking about, is yell, yell, and yell some more—many asserting that he came across as an “angry old man.” He sure looked and sounded angry, but that’s not what caused him to get out there and scream at everyone. Some believe he was juiced up, medicated, pumped with stuff to keep him going. And trust me, everybody in the room was looking closely from his entrance to see if he could pull it off and keeping their eyes fixed to see if he would peter out. It’s clear that the plan was for him to pretend to be energetic and alert and sharp as a tack. His idea of doing that was to yell. I guess you do what you gotta do, and if looking angry is how you try to convince people you can last four more years, that’s what you do and hope for the best. Trump distilled his fever pitch to this: “Angry as hell, this guy is a PSYCHO.”

After speaking for about an hour and eight minutes, Biden wrapped it up, and we turned our attention to Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, the youngest woman elected to the Senate, for the rebuttal. As she began to speak, from her kitchen—which has garnered the party immense criticism—I wondered if she was crying. Then I realized she wasn’t and just thought her speaking approach strange. I settled within myself that she was just nervous. After all, this is a huge stage for anyone to occupy, and she’s a young woman. So I listened to her message, which was in sharp contrast to the president’s. She made it clear that Biden’s assessment that all is well is ridiculous. She pointed out the concern that women, mothers, and everyday Americans have for the “kitchen table issues”—thus the symbolic setting, we can only suppose. She was not all gloom and doom, however. No one could say she had no hope for America’s future.

She is being blasted for her response, however. One word that hits hard is “cringe.” Others predict it will become a Saturday Night Live skit. Megyn Kelly said, “I don’t know what the F I saw” and went on to say she agreed that she looked like she was auditioning for a Lifetime show. She’s not far off. It really was that badly delivered. I actually feel sorry for her because she seemed so sweet there in her kitchen, but the crying I thought was going on when she started speaking did not go away. It was back and forth—the voice making me wonder if she really was crying, the sniffling, the recovering. It was just bad. And I feel for her because I doubt she sought this responsibility, but rather, accepted the role, then flopped big-time—and everyone is talking about it—on the left and right. Breitbart News’s Hannah Bleau Knudsen compiled some of the tweets in a piece called “Katie Britt Panned for ‘Cringe’ State of the Union Response.” Click here to check it all out.

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Those tuned in Thursday are of varying opinions and political persuasions, so there is much we are likely not to agree on. Some “amen” Biden’s odd assessment that the state of the union is wonderful, and those of us paying even a little attention know it is not—not at this time, anyway. But one thing we can all agree on concerning the State of the Union and its accompanying response is that we received performances from an old yeller and a young crier. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get to the business of replacing President Biden with someone with a proven record of accomplishment.

C-SPAN coverage of State of the Union and the Republican response found here.

Photo: Bloomberg.com