Nope, he's been listening to them since JFK's 1961 address.

Having sat through the entire thing, I had to think about this for a moment.

JFK: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

Ronald Reagan: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."

Bill Clinton: "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America."

Joe Biden: "Hey you kids, get off my lawn!"

Okay, fine, that's not a verbatim quote, but it is a verbatim impression.

It was his trademark yelly, slurry angry-old-man delivery that I recall most vividly. He had quieter parts, but I still felt like I was being scolded the entire time. There was no joy in it. He mouthed optimistic words, but it was wholly unconvincing.

Did it have some good lines? I suppose, but none stand out because it was such a hodgepodge. The theme was supposed to be "unity" but that never really landed for me. Sure, he said the word "unity" eight times, and "together" seven (including his annoying rhetorical device of saying things twice), but It meandered all over the place, as if it was written by a committee where the Zoom call kept dropping so they never had a chance to compare notes.

I thought Mark Halperin's take was more on the nose.

"The things he said, the way he said them was Joe Biden."

Fair enough.

"It was one of the most unmemorable speeches I ever heard."

What speech? Oh, that's right. Slipped my mind for a moment.

It's going to be a long four years, but then, it always is.