“Defending democracy not diminish it.” Joe Biden State of the Union Address 2024

Joltin Joe came out swinging last night in the well of Congress.  President Biden hit one home run after another in a mind-blowing short amount of time. It was breathtaking to watch.

I’ll come out and say it -Joe Biden electrified me, stirred within me a feeling I hadn’t experienced for so long I fear it had atrophied – hopefulness. Dare I say good old-fashioned optimism.

Always a Biden supporter, it was admittedly lackluster.

Hope has been in short supply. Just hours in advance of the speech there was an underlying sense of gloom among my friends. My social media feeds were filled with anxious comments expressing fears of watching a frail feeble man stumble his way through a speech. Friends were day drinking in anticipation of a disaster. Some couldn’t even bear to watch what they assumed would be a debacle.

Instead, a clear-eyed, energized, and pugilistic Joe Biden knocked it out of the park.

Land of Possibilities

In this one speech, Biden resuscitated the beating heart of the American Dream that had been on life support.

The American sense of possibilities, and the optimism he exuded had the feeling of post-war America when the country stood united and confident at the apex of global power, racing boldly and confidently into the future. Where there was a feeling of endless potential even as it was tempered by the ongoing external threat to democracy. A threat that looms inside our country now.

Moving forward toward our democratic potential was what Americans expected from their country. Not moving backwards in the clown car of carnage Trump wants to take us on.

Trump was the elephant in the room, without his name being uttered even once.

The two men’s vision couldn’t be more stark, one dark one filled with light.

No Mr. Trump America is not the laughing stock of the world.

But you sir, are.