In November of 1982, then-President Ronald Reagan was setting up at Camp David for his weekly 5-minute radio address to the American people. As was his custom, Reagan was joking with the sound technicians setting his audio levels before connecting to the press room back at the White House and "going live." Unbeknownst to the Gipper, a switch had been flipped and his joke went out over the airwaves:
"My fellow Americans, I've talked to you on a number of occasions about economic problems and opportunities our nation faces and I am prepared to tell you, it's a h*ll of a mess," Reagan said, before quickly following up with an ironic, "We're not connected to the press room yet, are we?"
Given that Reaganomics were on the cusp of turning around the stagnant malaise of the Carter years, the comments drew mostly laughs.
I thought back on that moment this last week as I observed pundits and commentators ponder and postulate what exactly our current President Joe Biden would be saying in his upcoming State of the Union Address Tuesday evening. If Biden's speechwriters have even a cordial relationship with the truth, they could hand him Reagan's one-liner on a notecard, have him recite it, and call it a night.
If that seems unnecessarily snarky, precisely what else is the current president to say besides acknowledging that two years into his presidency he has created a heck of a mess?
Should he talk about his administration's crushing success in fulfilling this brash promise from the campaign trail:
Many Americans found the guarantee a bit presumptuous and silly at the time. Global pandemics, particularly one involving an airborne virus, aren't stymied by posturing, politics, policy, or presidents, after all. But Biden made the promise a centerpiece of his campaign, and offered it as a measuring rod by which we could judge his job performance. So Tuesday night, why not provide everyone this fascinating data point:
If that doesn't seem like a good idea, perhaps Biden could focus his talk on the way he's cleaned up the "cruelty" occurring at our southern border – a situation he deemed "unconscionable" while auditioning for the job of president.
Imagine how powerful a moment it would be for the reputation of the Biden administration if he thoughtfully and deliberately recounted these numbers Tuesday night:
If those two issues aren't impressive enough, maybe a line or two about escalating food costs, fuel costs, and overall inflation skyrocketing throughout his tenure? Or maybe he'd prefer to just forget domestic policy altogether and focus instead on what to this point has been just a stellar record on foreign policy.
Remember on the campaign trail, Biden warned of what could happen to Ukraine if the American people re-elected Donald Trump.
He could remind Americans that from the start he held himself out as the one guy who could stare down Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and thwart his territorial lust.
Maybe Tuesday night, President Biden could give us all a glimpse into how that ruthless intimidation of Putin is going?
Who could have expected such a performance from a guy that former Obama Defense Secretary Robert Gates said has "been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades"?
And to really drive the point home, maybe add some testimonials from Afghan citizens who watched the interpreters who aided the U.S. falling to their deaths as they futilely attempted to cling to the wheel wells of departing American transport planes.
So, like I was suggesting, while any of the aforementioned examples would offer the American public a pretty clear view of the current state of our union under President Joe Biden, it seems like it would be a lot less stress and a lot more honest for him to go the Reagan route:
"My fellow Americans, we're starting our second year together and I'm happy to report, it's a heck of a mess."
