Mar. 3—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — The opening minutes of President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union Address focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an event many United States citizens are still trying to process, with the war having started only one week ago.
Biden said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “sought to shake the very foundations of the free world,” but instead met “a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined.”
The Democratic president praised the Ukrainians’ effort to defend their homeland, reaffirmed the nation’s commitment to NATO and provided details about the effect of sanctions on Russia.
“I actually think he did a pretty good job addressing it,” said Alanna Wilson, a Westmoreland County resident who is active on several nonprofit boards in the Johnstown region. “I’m not trained in foreign policy or in war tactics, so I tried my best to reserve my judgments for my specialties … but just as a normal citizen, I felt like he offered reassurance.”
Johnstown NAACP Chapter President Alan Cashaw said Biden tried to “get the country to be united against Russian aggression into a sovereign state in an attempt to take it over.”
“I think that’s the right side of freedom he should be on,” Cashaw said. “I think he even got both sides of Congress and the Senate to agree with him on that. That was good.”
Dr. William Fritz, a self-described “Murtha Democrat” who recently joined the Republican Party, thought Biden was “pretty good” when he opened with Ukraine, but felt the president could have talked about the importance of defense spending and “the American people would not have flinched.”
“There was no mention of defense spending,” said Fritz, a Richland Township resident. “I have to be honest, I was surprised about that. I was glad to hear that a commitment to NATO was a commitment to NATO, period, and that was unequivocal. I didn’t think it was very hard for him to go through what he said about Putin and what’s happening in the Ukraine.”
Still, much uncertainty remains as world powers attempt to counter Russia’s military attack by sanctioning and isolating the country.
“Ukraine scares me to death,” Cambria County Republican Chairwoman Jackie Kulback said. “Whenever you’re in a fight, no matter what kind of fight it is, you never want to back your opponent into a corner where they have no options, and that’s what’s happening with Putin. But Putin’s last-ditch option is going nuclear. That’s what scares me.”
Kulback added: “Honestly, I don’t know what the solution is. I’m speechless. I don’t know what the solution is. Our planet, I just feel like we’re on the brink of nuclear war. I just don’t say that lightly.”
As is customary in State of the Union speeches, the president went through a list of issues during his hour-long address.
Fritz felt the speech was divided into three parts, going from Ukraine to “things that people could agree on,” such as infrastructure, inflation and enforcing tax laws, and finally to issues where Biden was “talking to his base.”
Among the many issues, Biden recommended cutting the cost of prescription drugs.
“I don’t think he communicated that as well as he could have,” said Fritz, an anesthesiologist. “I think he could have said America’s the land of innovation, and that our pharma is second to none. And that is true. But the idea of putting price controls may — may — in the long run interfere with that engine of innovation. But I do agree that they should be able to bid out contracts, just like the VA (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) does. Whatever price they get is what the market price is.”
Similarly, Cashaw offered a mixed opinion on Biden’s comments about law enforcement, which included a call to “fund the police.”
“However, we should talk also about the police being more just, with one justice system prevailing from the police through the court system,” Cashaw said. “He didn’t do enough on that. He did say that we need to support the police, so that they can do better work in training, in preparing the police to support the civil rights of everybody in the country. Didn’t do enough on that. But he did indicate that, as a society, we do need policemen — I guess because we’re not all just honest and just with each other. However, there is a systemic bias within the police that he didn’t touch on that needed to be remedied.”
Wilson wished Biden had addressed the issue of student loans.
“That would have been nice, but I also understand, at the time, that there are more pressing issues than my student loan,” she said.
Biden gave his speech as the nation is experiencing its highest inflation in decade and as the world navigates through the economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including supply chain disruptions.
The president also called for addressing inflation by lowering costs, making more products in the United States, reducing energy expenses, making child care more affordable, implementing a 15% minimum tax rate for corporations, and proposing a “crackdown on those companies overcharging American businesses and consumers.”
“I thought that it was an alternate reality from what we’re actually living,” Kulback said. “Blaming high inflation on people price-gouging was really unbelievable. Right now, people are dealing with record-high inflation. When they fill up their vehicles once a week, it’s sticker shock, and then you lay on top of that what we’re paying for electric, what we’re paying for food. It’s hitting everybody in their pocketbooks, and I honestly don’t know what the solution is at this point.”
Meanwhile, Wilson thought the State of the Union was “one of his better speeches.”
“I really do,” Wilson said. “No State of the Union is ever perfect, regardless of the party, the president, the situation, whatever, because we’re all individuals who all think that our own individual problems are the most important things.”
She felt the event had a bipartisan feel that was “pleasantly shocking.”
“I think that he did a nice job uniting the country, which is what he ran on and kind of what I know a lot of people have been waiting for,” Wilson said. “I feel like he ran on the message of unity. But then, of course, with COVID and a ton of important issues, that kind of got put on the back burner, so I’m really glad that he circled back around and reminded everyone what his main goal was anyway.”
