Joe Biden’s Missed Opportunity

Biden delivering his Warsaw speech on March 26, 2022.

Authors Note: If you’d prefer to listen instead, click on the green arrow above.

Joe Biden’s Warsaw moment was probably the most impressive speech of his presidency. His genuine passion for the Ukrainian people, as well as those of the other countries in the Eastern European region was very inspirational. Likewise, his genuine distain for the unforgiveable actions of Vladimir Putin was delivered in a straightforward and forceful manner. Both the venue and crowd were staged to make a Pro-American statement. The single most powerful line in his speech was “this man can’t remain in power”. Much easier said than done, but his point was correct. The problem is it came off as his macho opinion versus a consensus viewpoint. According to the White House, Biden’s remark was not in his prepared remarks and said that “he was not discussing…regime change”. Just another “Bidenism”?

In the lead up to the speech, his staff described it as the most important in his presidency. If so, where were the hard deliverables? It was long on pro-democracy talking points, Putin vitriol and compassion for the victims of this atrocity. Putin was evil enough to indiscriminately bomb multiple sites in Lvlv, a western Ukrainian city only 40 miles from the Polish border and 225 miles from Warsaw, just hours prior to Biden’s speech. The bully craved for attention and got it.