Biden bungles his State of the Union message

You've probably already forgotten it…

President Biden.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

It's common for slightly cynical pundits to remark that no one remembers a State of the Union speech 48 hours after it ends. In the case of the State of the Union President Joe Biden delivered Tuesday night to a joint session of Congress, I suspect the afterglow will last barely more than 24.

The 2022 State of the Union was a mediocre speech poorly delivered. To say so isn't entirely fair: The elderly Biden's halting manner of speaking, marked by malapropisms and smudged syllables, hasn't been the kind of political liability professional word-slingers like myself always presume it to be. Yet last night was filled with even more flubs than usual, with the lowlight coming early on when the president predicted (no doubt accurately) that Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine would ensure the Russian president never wins "the hearts and souls of the Iranian people."

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.