Biden’s upbeat chat about the economy in State of the Union reveals he’s out of touch with Americans | Opinion

President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday night was a bizarre combination of positivity, typical Democratic politics and misleading narratives.

Biden’s full-bodied defense of the economy while Americans worry about making ends meet showed just how much he has truly lost touch with the rest of America. A poll by NBC News says 71% of Americans believe this country is moving in the wrong direction. His approval rating is just 41%, a few points higher than its all-time low. But according to this speech, everything is going great.

Biden began his speech by describing the country to foreign dignitaries as a land of “opportunity.” He said the evidence was in his achievements over the past year, including a massive increase in jobs, a low unemployment rate and a fall in inflation and gasoline prices. Some of that may be true, but it’s not exactly due to Biden’s politics. This is misleading.

Job gains and a low unemployment rate are largely due to the country’s reopening and openness and an ongoing recovery from COVID. The unemployment rate is roughly where it was in 2019 before the pandemic.

Is the US doing better economically than during COVID? Yes. Has it improved massively since COVID started winding down? NO.

Biden’s speech showed how little contact he has with Americans, who, poll after poll, say their primary concern is money. To that end, inflation is still at a nearly 40-year high, mortgage rates are at a 20-year high, the number of Americans saving money has fallen to an all-time low, and borrowing spending has increased . Does that sound like Biden’s America is humming along?

Biden didn’t just smile. He parroted a common democratic narrative and condemned the American tax system as “unfair”. He babbled about America’s richest not paying their fair share of taxes, which is misleading. While casual billionaires find tax loopholes, the middle and upper classes pay a lot of taxes — and the vast majority of income taxes.

He also offered words of condolences to the parents of Tyre Nichols, the black police officer who was killed in January. The somber tone immediately shifted to a litany of typically Democratic positions: banning assault rifles, immigration, and “restoring the rights of Roe v. Calf”.

That’s not to say that Biden, or any president, shouldn’t applaud what’s going right – America is clearly and steadily recovering from COVID – but it’s hard to see how today’s speech does much good for Biden or offers much clarity for Americans. It was basically a litany of demands and ideas, misleading anecdotes that blurred reality and obscured the things Americans care about most.

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