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The botched Afghanistan withdrawal that left 13 service members dead and the subsequent failure to fully vet Afghan refugees arriving stateside. A nearly 40-year high rate of inflation. An intentional shift away from energy independence to energy dependence. Unprotected borders with record numbers of illegal crossings. A foreign policy that failed to deter the foreign invasion of a sovereign nation. A nation wearied by excessive mandates and politically charged science.
These are just a few of the things that President Biden sought to address during Tuesday’s State of the Union Address. The President opened his remarks with condemnation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and rightly lauded the courage and bravery of the Ukrainian people and their President in response. Rather than acknowledge failure to deter the Russian invasion altogether, President Biden simply vocalized American solidarity with Ukraine and a stronger-than-ever NATO alliance that slapped sanctions on Russia and its economy.
While the President applauded the steely determination of the Ukrainian people in defending their homeland, his mention of the porous and unprotected borders to our south focused primarily on targeting illegal drug trade and human trafficking rather than enacting stiffer policy to shore up our borders.
Regarding sanctions on Russia and the potential for their impact on gas prices here at home, Biden said, “Tonight, I can announce that the United States has worked with 30 other countries to release 60 Million barrels of oil from reserves around the world.” He also announced the forthcoming release of 30 million barrels from the United States’ own Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He made no mention of his swift cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline on his first day in office, which served to limit domestic oil production.
The President further maintained that inflation and the supply chain crisis are results of the pandemic, rather than poor economic policy. He once again took opportunity to promise his “bipartisan” economic plan will serve as a magic bullet to all the economic woes currently facing Americans.
Across the aisle, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds delivered a pointed rebuttal to the President’s State of the Union Address on behalf of Republicans. Reynolds asserted that the Biden administration sent the United States “back in time,” to the “late 70s and early 80s,” “when runaway inflation was hammering families, a violent crime wave was crashing on our cities, and the Soviet army was trying to redraw the world map.”
On one point only, Biden is right: “the American people are strong.” It’s time to take back America. And that time is at the polls in November.
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