State of the Biden Administration

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Brian Lehrer: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. We'll start today with some thoughts on the State of the Union address. Later, we'll have some fun and learn some surprising facts with the news by the numbers population quiz based on the 2020 census and other data. Spoiler alert, the first question will be, how many people live in New York City? We'll build out from there. We'll talk about why Putin's famous disinformation machine seems to be failing to help his own cause, as much as it helped Donald Trump. Let's face it, nobody believes Putin about this war. We'll talk about that. The State of the Union. If I had to pinpoint one clip, other than about Ukraine, there was the heart of the hour-long speech, maybe would be this on how to fight inflation.

President Biden: A middle class working folks shouldn't have to pay more than 7% of their income to care for the young children. My plan would cut the cost of childcare in half for most families, and help parents, including millions of women who left the workforce during the pandemic, because they couldn't afford childcare, to be able to get back to work, generating economic growth. My plan doesn't stop there, it also includes home and long-term care, more affordable housing, pre-K for three and four-year-old. All these will lower cost to families.

Brian Lehrer: The president from last night. Notice, he didn't say Build Back Better, which nobody knows what it means. He hit the highlights of his domestic agenda for families, specifically what he sometimes calls his human infrastructure plan. Remember that phrase, letting everybody see which side of the aisle stood up for affordable childcare and pre-K and eldercare and women being able to stay in the workforce, and which side didn't stand last night. Of course, there was a lot more than that, and some things he interestingly did not say.

With us now is Christina Greer, Fordham University political science professor, and co-host of the local politics podcast, FAQ NYC.

Hi, Christina, thanks for coming on with us early after the speech kept you up late.

Christina Greer: Thank you, Brian. It's always great to be here.

Brian Lehrer: Can we start right on that clip I played? Did you think he was trying to reset the national conversation about the economy, from the Republican talking point, inflation is bad, to his party solution for the longer-term economic stresses on families that underlie it?

Christina Greer: Right. I think that Joe Biden can't blame the actions of his predecessor. However, he has to recognize, and I think he did acknowledge that inflation is real. Families of all classes are feeling it. That's an economic reality. I do think that he, and hopefully the larger Democratic Party, will get better at marketing these ideas, because as you said, Build Back Better doesn't really mean much to people. They don't really understand how that helps their economic circumstance. We know that people go to the polls based on pocketbook issues and how they feel they're doing financially. We know that during the entire speech, I felt what was looming in the background were the November midterm elections and how the Democrats will do.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, that's just what I was going to ask, because the State of the Union is on one level, always a report to the American people and to Congress. On another level, it is always a political speech, and especially in an election year. Did you hear a blueprint there for Democratic Congressional candidates to run on offense on the economy in swing districts that are at risk this year, rather than just defense?

Christina Greer: I didn't really hear an offensive strategy. For me, it was a little bit more of a laundry list of what are some of the priorities. If we remember, Brian, Joe Biden, for all of his career, has always said, a budget is a moral document. We know that in the Constitution, for your listeners who haven't read it, I suggest you dust it off, Article II, Section 3 says the president shall report from time to time to Congress in the State of the Union. I think he was letting Congress know, and especially members of his party, but also the American people, know what are some of his priorities.

Then it's really up to Congress to start building legislation around some of these priorities that Joe Biden has laid out. There are quite a few things that he had in his speech, but I've got to say there are quite a few that weren't there specifically and explicitly. This isn't a speech where he gives them their march. He gives them their marching orders, but he doesn't give them the details of how he wants it done.

Brian Lehrer: Interesting, and we will get to some of the things that he didn't say. I did some word searches this morning for some things that as I was watching, I was thinking, "Wait, did he even mention X? Did even mention Y?" and we'll get to some of those. It was a central speech in various ways, I think, tell me what you think, including that he said he is for more funding of the police. He never mentioned-- Well, here are some of the things that he never mentioned, the words race, racism, inequality. He never mentioned student loans. Climate was in there, but not in a big way, but he did cite the unfairness of the tax code. He promised that nobody making $400,000 or less under his plan would see a penny of tax hikes, but listen to this clip.

President Biden: Last year, 55 of the Fortune 500 companies earned $40 billion in profit and paid zero in federal taxes. Now, look, it's not fair. That's why I proposed the 15% minimum tax rate for corporations. That's why in the G7 and other meetings overseas were able to put together, I was able to be somewhat helpful, 130 countries degree on a global minimum tax rate. Companies can't get out of paying their taxes at home by shipping jobs in factories overseas and raise billions of dollars.

Brian Lehrer: Touch of Bernie Sanders there, maybe, but generally, a Joe Biden center-left speech, Christina?

Christina Greer: Right. Let's be clear, Joe Biden is kind of center-left, as is the Democratic Party, to be very honest. I do think that that was a missed opportunity. Brian, my students and I put together a State of the Union bingo. We put all these words on the board, thinking about what would be in the speech and what should be in the speech, and a lot of my students obviously had climate change is something that shouldn't be in the speech, obviously, student debt or student loans. Those in the bingo did not win, because he just did not explicitly say it. If we want young people to pay attention to these policy prescriptions, if we want young people to be more participatory in our democracy, we also have to be explicit about some of the real policy issues that they're concerned about.

To have an entire hour-plus speech, and not explicitly dedicate a significant portion to climate change, when we've seen hurricanes and tornadoes and things that are going on in cities and towns across the country, or also the billions upon billions of debt that so many students are straddled or grappling with, and can't really start their lives, especially in a COVID America, that is a real missed opportunity.

I understand talking about the tax code, that's very important to a lot of voters, but if we're trying to pull new people into the voting process, I think Joe Biden could have and should have dedicated a lot more time to certain issues that really matter to younger people. They matter to me too, and I know they matter to you, but especially young people today.

Brian Lehrer: He said the term women's health care, but he didn't say the word abortion or the term abortion rights. Another thing that he did not mention by name was January 6, or the words insurrection or Capitol riot. I noticed, they did a search, he only said the word democracy in the global context of Ukraine in the world. Why do you think he made those choices?

Christina Greer: I think he knows that Republicans will criticize his speech in any capacity, and obviously they're trying to frame Joe Biden as some radical left-wing activist that is obsessed with race, and taking away their freedoms, but the fact that Roe v. Wade an abortion were explicitly mentioned, the fact that January 6, or the insurrection wasn't mentioned, I think was a real missed opportunity in the sense that we are fighting for our democracy here at home. I think it's very important that he started with Ukraine, and we'll get to that I'm sure, but what is happening abroad is also in some ways we're seeing cracks in our own foundation as far as democracy. We know that it's not something static, we know that it's something we have to actively work on on a daily basis, a series of choices.

If we look at statehouses in Texas and Florida and Arizona, we know that we're on the precipice. To not call out January 6, to remind Americans just how dangerous it was, to not say abortion or the need to protect Roe v. Wade when we see what's happening in Texas, I think discourages Democrats in some ways when they're looking at the president and saying, "Wow, does he really get it? Does he really get the concerns that we have right now, as far as looking at Republicans really trying to actively roll back this country to the 1950s?"

Brian Lehrer: Christina Greer, Fordham University political science professor and host of the podcast FAQ NYC as we talked about the State of the Union. He did suggest the threat of Trump's big lie and the ongoing threat to democracy from it like this.

President Biden: Most fundamental right in America is the right to vote and have it counted. Look, it's under assault. In state after state, new laws have been passed, not only suppressed the vote, we've been there before, but to subvert the entire election, you can't let this happen.

Brian Lehrer: I thought it was an intentionally pretty non-confrontational way into that, like with so many of the things in the way he presented them, and just to mention, and then he went on to other things as if it was another on the laundry list of equals. Some other people might center it and say, we either lose our country, we lose our electoral democracy or we don't, but he touched on how states are passing laws to subvert the election.

Christina Greer: Right. I wish he would've said it more with his chest and been a lot more explicit. That's a talking point that Republicans can say, well, we're trying to protect our voting integrity, and Democrats want voter fraud, which we know one doesn't really exist in the few instances of voter fraud are usually Republicans trying to vote twice or vote in states where they don't belong. I would've liked Joe Biden to spend a little bit more time.

Now, granted, I'm trying to be fair. The speech is an hour. He's trying to cover international and domestic policy. However, we know that one of the greatest threats to this nation right now and to our democracy as a whole is the fact that we are losing our ability to have free and fair elections, and especially in places like Georgia and Florida explicitly to say nothing of Texas and Arizona, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Passing the John Lewis voting rights Act is important, but I would've liked a sentence or two--

Brian Lehrer: He did mention John Lewis Voting Act.

Christina Greer: He did, but I would've liked for him to look at his Republican colleagues and say, you all have the ability to pass this Act, do it. Look at Joe Manchin, who's sitting with Republicans and say, you all have a responsibility to the American public to pass this Act, so let's do it.

Brian Lehrer: I thought his energy was very good, and he seemed very connected. I thought it didn't drag. It was very watchable. Sometimes Biden can look or sound a little remote in his public appearances, or like he's slowing down. Last night I thought this guy knows why he ran for president, knows what he wants to do, and has plans, agree or disagree, or agree or disagree with how explicitly he stated some things, and he made his case. What did you think on that level?

Christina Greer: Yes. Well, I agree with you, Brian. Whenever I look at Joe Biden, what I do see is a man who genuinely loves this country. I think that he understands that there are deep divides in this nation, and he's trying to figure them out. He's one of the presidency for a long time. He had eight years of looking at how Obama did it. I'm sure they agreed sometimes and he disagreed with him on several others, but this is a man who I think also the Achilles heel of Joe Biden right now is he doesn't understand the deep divisions in this nation.

He said in speeches before, like, wow, I thought I'd be able to look at my Republican colleagues and work with them. It's like, well, when you were in the Senate 40 years ago, yes, they were willing to talk about a woman's right to choose, or to fund planned parenthood, or to think about infrastructure or the environment in ways that we're nonpartisan. That is not the party that he's negotiating with right now. His ideal of America isn't matching the reality of America, but as far as the speech, you can look at him and tell he really loves the fact that everyone is together. He could feel the fact that we're all in one room, many people were unmasked, so this idea of we're getting back to some sense of normalcy, and he wants it to work. I don't think he wants this country to work just so that he's got a legacy of bringing us together. I think his upbringing and Scranton, he always talk about his working class roots. He understands that he grew up in a different type of white America that possibly exists today, and is really interested in coming up with a real vision for the nation.

I just don't know if he fully understands the white nationalism that he's up against. I don't think he understands the hyper partisanship that he's up against. I'm not sure that he is, how do I want to say this? I know that he's got a lot of factions within his own party while he's also trying to look at where the country is, and the democratic party is quite diverse. He's trying to acknowledge, as you mentioned before with some of the Bernie S tech stuff, I think he's trying to acknowledge the more left leaning members of the party, while also dealing with the reality that the nation, as a whole, is much more centrist, even in cities.

Brian Lehrer: That's right. Even as exemplified by the election of Eric Adams in New York.

Christina Greer: There we go.

Brian Lehrer: I thought Biden does deserve credit for trying to keep that big tent very big last night, and especially in an election year. Last thought, he did start with a long section on Ukraine and global democracy. Something he obviously would not have emphasized, maybe even mentioned probably a week ago. We'll talk more about that later in the show, but again on what he did not say, he didn't remind people that Trump was impeached for trying to blackmail Ukraine, or that Trump toed up to Vladimir Putin at every opportunity. Is it surprising to you how much the American people seem to have gone from not caring about Ukraine, which most people in the US couldn't find on a map, let's face it, to this big galvanized moment of rooting for the underdog against Putin?

Christina Greer: Well, this is what we do as an nation, and we have a very short memory. I think strategically, Biden didn't want to bring up old business, even though I think it's very important for us to recognize and try and understand why it is that the Trump administration was so involved in Russian Ukraine during the four years of his tenure. I think the state of the union wasn't necessarily the time for him to try and relitigate the impeachment. I do think that's where his surrogates come in. That's where members of the Democratic party come in, to remind voters and remind the American people that we possibly had [unintelligible 00:16:13] in his president, sitting in the Oval office for four year, and we need to investigate why that is.

Joe Biden's got a lot of plates in the air right now. When we were filling out our bingo, we were saying if the state of the union were held three weeks ago, Afghanistan would've been at the top of the ticket, not Ukraine. I don't know, when we go to the polls in November, if Ukraine will even be in voters' minds, and that's just how our political winds blow so quickly and in so many different directions. We rally and then we forget.

Brian Lehrer: Christina Greer playing state of the union Bingo with her students at Fordham University, where she's a political science professor. It had to be Bingo, not a drinking game.

Christina Greer: No, no, no. Good [crosstalk].

Brian Lehrer: You can't force to that.

Christina Greer: Clean Bingo.

Brian Lehrer: Not from the faculty standpoint, and she's also co-host of the local politics podcast, FAQ NYC. Thanks as always, Christina.

Christina Greer: Thanks, Brian.

 

 

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