PRESIDENT Joe Biden’s State of the Union address was several things: Divisive. Loud. Scrappy. Unhinged.
All with a portrayal of an America close to utopia in terms of its economy, a top issue heading into this election as it always is.
“Our economy is the envy of the world!” the president declared. “Our inflation is the lowest in the world!”
Fact-check: At 3.1 percent last month, that claim is not even close to truthful. Dozens of countries have a lower inflation rate, per multiple fact-checks.
Context: Inflation was 1.3 percent when Donald Trump left office.
The economy also is not the envy of American voters. A recent Financial Times poll shows just 14 percent of voters believe they are better off under Biden.
Even Democrats are sour, with less than one-quarter (24 percent) saying life is better under this president.
And when zeroing in on which president could better handle the economy, Trump tops Biden by a 20-point margin, per an NBC poll released just this week.
Many pundits talked about a possible pivot the president would make on immigration during this address, likely watched by more than 20 million people across multiple networks. But the pivot never came, with Biden instead continuing to point the finger at a catastrophe he created at the U.S. Southern border.
“We can fight about the border, or we can fix it. I’m ready to fix it,” Biden said.
Actually, the president could fix the border right now. All it takes is reversing the 91 executive orders and actions he took just days after taking office reversing critical Trump orders and policy that has led to an unsustainable flow of migrants to the tune of more than 7.2 million entering the country since Biden took office. Context: 7.2 million is more than the total population of 35 U.S. states.
Biden could have ordered resumption of wall construction and reinstated Remain in Mexico policy. He did neither and pointed the finger at Republicans instead for their rejecting a toothless immigration bill that does not resume wall construction or Remain in Mexico.
But perhaps the most notable moment of the one hour, eight minute address was Biden being shamed into saying the name of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student brutally murdered on the campus of the University of Georgia while out for a jog.
The moment occurred when Rep. Majorie Taylor Green (R-GA) began heckling Biden over his refusal to acknowledge Reilly’s killing publicly. Biden then reached under the podium to show a button with the victim’s name given to him by Green as he entered the chamber.
“Say her name!” Greene yelled at Biden.
“Lincoln Riley,” Mr. Biden said in mispronouncing Laken’s name. “An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal.”
“That’s right, but how many of the thousands of people are being killed by illegals?” he asked in going off-script.
“To her parents, I say, my heart goes out to you, having lost children myself. I understand,” Biden added.
A telling moment, only because Biden had to be shamed into consoling the parents.
After the speech, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the former House speaker, lamented the president’s language of applying “illegal” to a criminal in the country illegally.
“Do you do think that he should have said undocumented?” CNN’s Dana Bash asked Pelosi.
Pelosi responded: “Well, we usually say ‘undocumented.’ He said ‘illegal.’ I don’t think it’s a big deal. “
Imagine this: A young woman is murdered and Pelosi’s first thought was to correct the president on language in an effort to not offend her base. It’s 2020 all over again.
From there, the themes were familiar ones: in playing Biden’s greatest hits: Republicans want to ban abortions. Assault weapons should be banned. And anything this is wrong in the country is Trump’s fault, who he again said is a threat to democracy itself.
The Commander-in-Chief also claimed America is safer under him than it was under his predecessor. This despite an open border with hundreds on the FBI terror watch list being apprehended since Biden took office. This despite violent crime in major American cities prompting an exodus out of major American cities from San Francisco to Chicago to New York to red states like Florida, Texas and Tennessee.
Under Biden’s watch, Russia invaded Ukraine. China is more aggressive in its eyeing up of Taiwan, and America is fighting two proxy wars and spending billions without any end game in sight.
This speech marked Biden’s final State of the Union address of his first term. He beat expectations in terms of performance because that’s easy when the expectations are as low as a speed bump.
Overall, he read his speech relatively well and showed an energy we usually don’t see during events when the president is forced to speak without a script.
But here’s the thing about the State of the Union addresses: They tend to be forgotten quickly. Very few are quoted back even a day removed, let alone in the annals of presidential history.
Let’s put it this way: If you went on the street right now and asked anyone who watched that speech, could they remember one major policy announcement that impacted them directly.
The performance part was there, yes. But what was said that would make the American people believe that anything will be any different than they were over the first three years of this presidency?
What is Biden’s vision for the next four years?
We heard and saw lots of pats on the back Thursday night at the Capitol.
What we didn’t really hear was what this president wants to do if re-elected again.
Biden showed fire last night, granted. But if nothing changes in terms of the direction of the country of his leadership, do words really matter?
Joe Concha is a Fox News contributor who joined the network in 2020.
He provides commentary and insight on current events on the Fox News and Fox Business Network, appearing regularly on Fox & Friends, The Big Saturday Show, Varney & Co., and Outnumbered.