Column By John Young
Not since Rocky Marciano relocated Ezzard Charles’ chin to an adjoining county.
Not since a Chuck Stobbs fastball took a 565-foot ride on Mickey Mantle’s bat.
Only in sports annals can adequate comparisons be found for the thumping Joe Biden laid on stationary Republican targets in Congress in his fourth State of the Union address.
When I was a boy, I watched “Fight of the Week” with my dad. So consumed was he with each bout that he would grunt and jab as his favorites took on their foes.
Thursday night, I almost threw my shoulder out. From a misty dimension, I could hear my progressive Dad emoting support for Smokin’ Joe.
In the GOP response, creepily coiled Sen. Katie Britt gave new meaning to boxing’s “undercard” when, from her shiny kitchen, she called Biden a “dithering and diminished leader.”
She must have been over-nuking Beefaroni for her tots during Biden’s speech. She apparently missed entirely a stirring message from a seasoned leader.
Biden was power. Biden was perception. Biden was optimism. Biden was realism.
He took the “diminished faculties” canard and drop-kicked it into the tidal basin.
He may walk – and, yes, occasionally stumble – like a senior citizen, but he speaks and thinks like the senior statesman we elected.
The president’s strongest line was directed at Donald Trump and the zeroes sitting like salt shakers to Biden’s left:
The issue, he said, “isn’t how old we are. It’s how old our ideas are. Hate, anger, revenge, (and) retribution are among the oldest of ideas. But you can’t lead America with ancient ideas that only take us back.”
“Retribution.”
The term would not be in today’s political thought stream were it not straight from Trump’s mouth.
Katie Britt talks of dithering. What have Republicans in Congress done except to serve as proxies for Trump’s vengeance vendetta?
The quest to impeach Biden is reminiscent of Rudy Giuliani’s response when an Arizona official asked for something solid to back up “stolen election” claims. Said Giuliani, “We’ve got lots of theories. We just don’t have the evidence.”
Against this backdrop, remarkably, Biden has racked up a string of legislative victories to make Americans’ lives better.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill he shepherded through Congress has resulted in 46,000 projects that are helping local communities and employing Americans.
The CHIPS and Science Act has put the United States again at the forefront of semiconductor manufacturing.
The Inflation Reduction Act contains this nation’s most ambitious efforts ever at addressing climate change, particularly investing in clean energy.
The Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act will dramatically lower the prices of prescription drugs for seniors.
It must be pointed out that these achievements were made possible only when and because Democrats had a majority in the House. Progress stopped when do-diddly Republicans gained their razor-thin majority in the 2022 off-year election.
Nonetheless, Biden has persisted in addressing acute needs such as student debt relief.
Understandably many of those deep in college debt are disappointed more hasn’t been done. They should know that intransigent Republicans and a Trump-tilted Supreme Court are responsible.
Nonetheless, Biden has used his administrative authority over existing programs to relieve some $138 million in student debt.
There’s only one answer to further relief: Biden’s re-election and a Democrat-controlled Congress.
Biden talked about all of these things while Republicans did what they do best: grouse and moan.
When Rocky Marciano decked Ezzard Charles he answered concerns about notoriously slow feet.
Mickey Mantle hit that mythical home run on creakily debilitated legs.
Joe Biden took a good while getting to the microphone for his fourth State of the Union. When he finally set his feet to speak, however, he knocked one out of the park.
Longtime newspaperman John Young lives in Colorado. Email: jyoungcolumn@gmail.com.
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author.
