by Myers Mermel

Last night, Joe Biden gaslighted the entire nation denying any problems with inflation, the border, energy, foreign affairs, or unity in an angry and unorganized, blame-shifting State of the Union. The speech was probably one of the least optimistic and uninspiring such addresses in memory. The nadir was a false attack on Republicans accusing them of wanting to sunset Social Security and Medicare. 

Marred by stumbles, slurring, and rambling asides, the speech itself never gained any power, weakened further by discordant moments where Biden yelled red-faced at the assembled gathering.  Without many of President Trump’s policy victories, Biden had few accomplishments of his own on which to brag. Instead, he borrowed Trump’s accomplishments and claimed them as his own even using Trump’s own language about “the forgotten” middle class. 

The best part of the evening was the Republican response by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She delivered what may have been the best response to a State of the Union ever given.    

The Republican Party has a new rising star. From the Governor’s mansion in Little Rock, Sarah Sanders showed her keen insight, courage, and faith as she presented a strong and optimistic alternative vision for the country.

She was blunt in her assessment that Biden and the Democrats have failed the country. She said she didn’t believe Biden because his administration has been hijacked by the far left. Under Biden the government has come to rule the people, but the timeless American ideal has always been the opposite: that government should instead serve the people. Without that, we have no liberty, and we are not free. Governor Sanders stated we are a great nation precisely because we are free. 

Governor Sanders asserted that Biden has surrendered his presidency to a woke mob. Hijacked by the radical left, his administration has undertaken a culture war the right never wanted to fight. Now the radical left has politicized all areas of our lives. It requires us to alter our speech, salute their flags and worship their false idols. The choice between political directions is no longer reasonable. Now, Governor Sanders stated, it is the choice between normal and crazy. 

Republicans stand for strong families, strong communities, and strong faith. Governor Huckabee declared that it was time for a new generation to lead. America is under attack. Democrats have failed you. There is a new generation of Republicans, she stated, who will be change makers. As God is our witness, she declared, America will stand as the place where freedom reigns and where liberty will never die.

Sarah Sanders won election to Arkansas’s highest office last year at the age 40 and serves as America’s youngest Governor at exactly half the age of the President Biden. A mother of three children, Governor Sanders brought a perspective as a working mother as well as substantial political experience to bear in her determined, forceful, and patriotic response. 

President Biden and his angry speech served as a reminder of the failures of our past. Sarah Sanders stood as a signal to the greatness which lies ahead. God bless Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders for bringing light and hope back to the American people.   

The author is the President of the Ethan Allen Institute with a career in finance and advanced degrees in history and theology. He resides in Manchester.