This op-ed by SPN Executive Vice President Tony Woodlief first published at National Review.
The key audiences for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, according to an unnamed White House insider, were moderate Democrats, Never-Trump Republicans, and independents. With those groups in mind, Biden made promises that have — as we know from polling data, alongside applause from the Republicans in attendance — widespread appeal: building roads and bridges, reducing prescription-drug prices, reducing corporate tax shelters, and, of course, aiding Ukrainians beset by a brutal Russian dictator.
Biden’s address indeed might have marked a return to the pragmatist who campaigned in 2020 on a return to normalcy, but whose abrupt disappearance after his inauguration triggered a catastrophic decline in public approval, including a 21-point drop among America’s largest political bloc — independent voters. Unfortunately, however, Biden’s advisers couldn’t resist stuffing his address with offerings that they insist — despite all evidence to the contrary — Americans want. Biden’s speech became a microcosm of his first year in office, littered with proposals designed by and for the progressive wing of his party and dressed up in the language of community and the working class.
Worse still, from the perspective of those of us focused on state policy, Biden’s proposals threaten more of the blunt-force federal interventions that have exacerbated the very ills they claim to cure, all while undercutting state and local leaders who currently enjoy significantly more public trust than do federal agencies and officials.
