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President Joe Biden delivered his farewell address last night in the Oval Office. While he started with strong patriotic themes, he ended by warning the country of some “things that give me great concern.” Biden declared that America is an oligarchy now. Cockburn thought it was turning into a dictatorship? He can’t keep track. Overall, though, he thought Biden’s speech presented an idealistic view of America.
It featured inspiring snatches, with stories about the Statue of Liberty and references to the words of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, saying America is “a nation holding the torch of the most powerful idea ever in the history of the world. That all of us are created equal.” To Biden, equality means that “all of us deserve to be treated with dignity, justice and fairness. That democracy must defend and be defined and be imposed, moved in every way possible. Our rights, our freedoms, our dreams.”
And Biden’s speechwriters really deserve some credit for this quotable line: “Whether we lead by the example of our power, or the power of our example. Whether we show the courage to stand up to the abuse of power, or we yield to it.”
Many times Biden imagined an America where Democratic policies were not incompatible with these patriotic themes. He claimed the rich will not be punished, but that “people should be able to make as much as they can, but PAY — play by the same rules — pay their fair share in taxes.” When it comes to climate, “We’ve proved that we don’t have to choose between protecting the environment and growing the economy.” Biden even dared reference money in politics: “We need to get dark money — that’s that hidden funding behind too many campaign contributions — we need to get it out of our politics.” (Presumably he was not referencing to the amount he and Kamala raised.) And then criminal action in office: “We need to amend the Constitution to make clear that no president — NO president is immune from crimes that he or she commits while in office.”
There was, of course, no mention of the fact that most rich people will consider higher taxes a punishment, how saving the fishies is destroying California, the abundance of dark money that funded Kamala’s campaign or of Biden’s pardon of his son’s crimes while in office. Minor oversights, of course.
Biden sweetly envisioned an America of unity, freedom and hope in his farewell speech and touted his accomplishments in the energy sector, new roads and bridges, high-speed internet, semi-conductors (which is smaller than the “tip of my little finger”), strengthening NATO, bringing violent crime to a fifty-year low, gun safety laws and healthcare. Yet none on this list can make up for the fact that equality of outcome is totally opposed to Biden’s favorite concept to describe America: opportunity.
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