Communist Party USA
The following is based on a report given by Joe Sims at the National Board meeting on March 2, 2022. Perhaps the most incredible thing about Biden’s State of the Union address the other night is that nary a word was said about the storming of the Capitol. How could that be? A scant few weeks after the coup’s first anniversary and no mention? What manner of political calculus led Washington’s top Democratic strategists to conclude that it was either impolitic or impolite to mention the most important event in this country’s history? Was it a focus group, a poll, a gut-felt hunch, plain old stupidity, or what? Gus Hall used to say that the essence of being president was in offending the least number of people, but after January 6th, this is ridiculous! The answer might lie in the content of the speech that was pitched smack dab in the middle of center field. After almost 20 minutes of casting fire and brimstone at Putin for invading Ukraine, Mr. Biden called for increased police funding and securing the U.S.’s southern border, calls that received standing ovations from both sides of the aisle. So how are you going to win the midterms by appealing mainly to independents and soccer moms? Hmm. Voting rights, the PRO-ACT, and trans rights were highlighted in the speech. Four “noncontroversial” unity proposals were premiered at the joint session of Congress: combating opioid addiction, outlawing ads targeted at children, providing aid to veterans, and renewing the war on cancer. Could these, along with repackaged parts of Build Back Better, be the main planks in this year’s Democratic legislative agenda? Hey, Mr. Biden, better call Manchin and Sinema and be ready with some big bucks. You can forget about Mitch McConnell supporting anything you do now or, if you don’t change course, in what appears to be your exceedingly short-lived political future. Now, don’t get me wrong: there were some good things in the speech. The president did stress that today, the country’s in a better place. But hell, this was true the second after Trump left office. Unemployment is lower, COVID is receding, and infrastructure legislation has passed. And the speech did bring attention to voting rights, the PRO-ACT, and trans rights, even though there’s zero chance of passage of House-approved legislation on these or any other front in the near term. In addition, there were strong appeals in the State of the Union to working-class issues like tax fairness, women’s equality, and child care. With respect to tax fairness Biden said, “Just last year, 55 Fortune 500 corporations earned $40 billion in profits and paid zero dollars in federal income tax.” He called for a 15% tax on global corporations in response. Good. But, while working-class issues were mentioned, they seemed rather muted. By way of comparison, Rashida Tlaib gave a reply to Biden on behalf of the Working Families Party that called for electing a working-class majority to Congress around issues like canceling student debt, raising the minimum wage, recalculating the poverty index, and turning the Rust Belt into a Green Belt. She also took aim at the military budget. Now that’s an agenda one can relate to instead of the other day’s mealy-mouthed appeals to the center. Come on guys! Average is not going to win the midterms! Enough with projecting Biden’s understated I’m-the-normal-guy image and it’s either me or tbe President of Krazyland. Indeed, Biden on Tuesday night chose to largely stay away from the sharper issues that have divided the country. This stood in sharp contrast to the GOP reply…
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What Biden didn’t say at the State of the Union