Joe Biden’s handlers posted on social media Monday the notes the president had written for the upcoming State of the Union. They probably shouldn’t have.
Biden wrote that he was “getting ready” in a self-described post, which no one believes the president wrote. He also included a photo of the first page from his speech. Because the president is like us, we are showing chocolate chip cookies. He loves cookies and other things.
But, I digress. The part that got people talking about the contents of the page.
Although you can click on the tweet to view the replies, it’s only one sentence. That takes up about five seconds of talking and occupies an entire page. We then see that Biden has even had his pauses written down at the end of this mental marathon. Given his past, it’s possible that he won’t be able to read the brackets on Tuesday night.
This is what I expect to hear. Every president who gives the State of the Union address has large font notes that contain their mannerisms. But is that true?
To satisfy my curiosity, I looked up the notes of Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Donald Trump’s speeches (see the images here, here and here). They all have more words per page than the average and no one scripted out pauses. They had the same notes that a normal human being would have. It’s night and day when you compare that to Biden’s picture.
Biden’s scripted speeches, however, are not new. Biden has used a large television to teleprompt during his tenure. It includes every blink and breathe he’s ever taken.
This is a big deal when compared to other things about Biden’s presidency. It is not, but it continues to project US weakness onto other countries. The President of the United States is not in control, but is controlled by his administration. Presidents who think quickly and can react quickly are respected by our adversaries. Joe Biden is not that kind of person, and the current world situation is a testimony to this.
