Looking At One Set Of Biden's July 4 Remarks

As far as I can tell, President Biden gave at least two formal speeches on Monday to celebrate July 4. One of them, that's had more publicity, said America has "come up short" and "feels like it is going backward." It refers indirectly to the Highland Park shooting. So far, though, I haven't found a full text on line.

A second, which does have a text at the White House site, differs considerably from these remarks and doesn't contain the specific phrases that have been shown in video clips and quoted in reporting. I simply don't know if this is one speech with the delivered text heavily revised, or two different speeches. However, I'm going to discuss the text in the link at the White House site. If anyone can clarify what's what here, I'll greatly appreciate it.

What intrigues me about the text is that I think it does reflect Biden's mind sufficiently that he must be a principal originator. I very much doubt that he wrote any of it out in longhand on a yellow legal pad a la Nixon, but he must at least have dictated it to a stenographer in some way -- it carries too much of his personal style, which is glib and obtuse.

Another thing that strikes me is that its specifics, once he gets beyond brief general introductory bloviation, are exclusively about COVID:

This year, the Fourth of July is a day of special celebration, for we are emerging from the darkness of years; a year of pandemic and isolation; a year of pain, fear, and heartbreaking loss.

Just think back to where this nation was a year ago. Think back to where you were a year ago. And think about how far we’ve come.

From silent streets — (applause) — from silent streets to crowded parade routes lined with people waving American flags; from empty stadiums and arenas to fans back to their seats cheering together again; from families pressing hands against a window to grandparents hugging their grandchildren once again.

This is simply odd. Nobody, at this point, is thinking about COVID. Remaining mask mandates are ignored and unenforced, let alone social distancing. Attempts to revive them, like those in California, have fallen flat and been quickly withdrawn. Vaccine mandates have fallen intro desuetude. New issues have come up: inflation, crime, gun violence, and immigration top the list, while others like Ukraine and abortion are still more important than COVID -- but Biden speaks only of COVID.

It sounds like he wishes it were still 2020, when it was "dark" -- but this was not just 2020, it was the "darkness of years". I've got to think that's a reference to Trump. But then there was the light:

So, today, while the virus hasn’t been vanquished, we know this: It no longer controls our lives. It no longer paralyzes our nation. And it’s within our power to make sure it never does again. And for that, we can thank the scientists and researchers, the educators, and all the other frontline and essential workers, like many of you here today — (applause) —

who became the light to see us through the darkness.

This must only be a reference to Dr Fauci, of all people, who personifies Science, bringer of light, who chased away the Trump. I think this mischaracterizes the whole history of COVID and the official public health response to it, which the political establishment fully endorsed throughout. The pandemic consisted of about five peaks between early 2020 and mid 2022 that in fact were progressively more severe and which made a mockery of the official remedies that were proposed, starting with "fifteen days to flatten the curve" through extended lockdowns through social distancing, mask mandates, church closures, and vaccines, none of which proved effective.

The only thing that ended the pandemic was the historic pattern by which viruses become more contagious as they weaken, until by mid-2022, everyone was infected with a mild strain. Dr Fauci by then had become an irrelevant figure who'd overstayed his 15 minutes of fame by a considerable period. (The owner of a store I visit told me that late this spring, he'd finally caught the 'rona. He said he had about 40 minutes of muscle aches, but his wife made him stay away from the store for a full two weeks of quarantine. Luckily, his staff held the fort.)

On July 3, the New York Post ran a story about Biden on July 4, 2021, Remember Biden’s ‘summer of freedom’ and victory over COVID? No wonder his credibility’s shot:

Last July 4, President Joe Biden proclaimed victory over COVID: “Thanks to our heroic vaccine effort, we’ve gained the upper hand against this virus. We can live our lives. We are closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus.” A few weeks later, Biden promised that people who got vaccinated would not get COVID.

Since last July 4, COVID has killed more than 400,000 Americans. More than 55 million have been diagnosed with the virus, and there have probably been tens of millions of unconfirmed or unreported cases.

Biden has been more successful decimating freedom than ending the pandemic. The wreckage of his COVID promises explains much of the collapse of Biden’s credibility and approval ratings.

. . . On Aug. 5, CDC chief Rochelle Walensky formally confessed: “What [COVID vaccines] can’t do anymore is prevent transmission.” Prior to that admission, the Biden administration even refused to disclose the number of “breakthrough” infections that had occurred among White House staff.

On Aug. 11, the Mayo Clinic revealed that the efficacy of the Pfizer COVID vaccine had fallen to 42% — a stunning collapse after early boasts of 95% effectiveness in safeguarding people against infection. Biden responded to the failures by repudiating his 2020 promise not to make vaccines mandatory.

. . . Following the “summer of freedom,” Biden promised in December “a winter of severe illness and death for the unvaccinated” and declared that “almost everyone who has died from COVID-19 in the past many months has been unvaccinated.” Wrong again. Two months earlier, the CDC ceased publishing data showing soaring deaths among the fully vaxxed because the data “might be misinterpreted as the vaccines being ineffective,” The New York Times revealed early this year.

Even though almost two-thirds of the US population was fully vaccinated, COVID cases exploded late last year and soon exceeded a million new cases a day. The CDC later admitted that almost half the COVID deaths in early 2022 were among the fully vaxxed.

Why on earth does the guy want to revisit COVID at this stage? It says something that he apparently thinks this is the only positive thing he can point to. Yet again, these are issues of character and competence, not dementia.