What was with that speech?
I don't know it it matters
President Biden, last night, basically kicked off the 2022 midterms final leg with a campaign speech in Philadelphia.
His advisers repeatedly stressed to the press that this was a presidential speech, not a “political speech.” They may have even believed this nonsense. One can imagine Biden himself believed it. The speech was ostensibly about attacks on U.S. democracy by the threats it is currently facing and the need to fight for the “soul of America” Biden stood before the presidential seal and was flanked by a marine guard (seen above.) Very non-political. I suspect the timing of doing this right before Labor Day weekend was intentional because in both mid-terms and presidential election years, the post-Labor Day to November period is seen as the main thrust of the election.
The idea that it was not a political speech was a self-delusion at best. The speech’s “soul of America” theme was also the theme of his 2020 presidential campaign. The main threat to democracy he cited was Donald Trump, a likely 2024 presidential candidate, and “MAGA Republicans.” In an apparent effort to make it not seem political, Biden stressed that not all Republicans are bad. It is just MAGA Republicans. But he also stressed the threats they posed were not just to democracy itself but also to things like the right to abortion, which is a hot button political issue.
Of course, it is difficult to really draw a clear line between things that are fundamentally non-political and things that are. I happen to agree with Biden that Trump is a threat to U.S. democracy - after all he clearly attempted a coup two years ago. Shouldn’t denouncing that be treated as an issue higher than “political” issues like budgetary spending disagreements? Also, whatever one’s opinion on the issue, the Supreme Court has rolled back what had been a Constitutional right for fifty years - the first time it has ever done that. Is that more than just a political issue?
Yes, I think so. Or maybe not. Everything is political now, even the idea of whether we should have certain rights or whether we should follow democratic norms. I can understand Biden thinking this speech is above politics because of these issues. But he also kind of went full campaign mode too:
I believe we could lift America from the depths of Covid, so we passed the largest economic recovery package since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and today America’s economy is faster, stronger than any other advanced nation in the world. We have more to go. I believe we can build a better America, so we passed the biggest infrastructure investment since President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and we’ve now embarked on a decade of rebuilding the nation’s roads, bridges, highways, ports, water systems, high-speed internet, railroads.
I believe we can make America safer, so we passed the most significant gun safety law since President Clinton.
I believe we could go from being the highest cost of prescriptions to the world to making prescription drugs and health care more affordable, so we passed the most significant health care reform since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act.
And I believed we could create a clean energy future and save the planet, so we passed the most important climate initiative ever, ever, ever.
Republicans are correct to classify Biden’s speech as a political one. In that sense, it was inappropriate of him to treat it like an official presidential address. He asked the networks for free air time, he used the presidential seal and the marines, etc. At the same time, Republicans have no ground to stand on given their support for Trump’s blatant abuse of the office. He gave his RNC renomination speech at the White House, after all. Democrats condemned that sort of thing but appear to be shrugging of Biden doing something that is not the same but in the same category.
Does it really matter? I don’t know. I am not overly exercised by it. I think some media calling the White House out for this was good. The media who treated it like it really was a non-political speech look silly and just affirm to audiences their liberal tilt. But overall I doubt many people outside the DC-based political class were really paying attention anyway.