President Joe Biden learned the hard way Saturday about the dangers of going off script at the end of a speech heavily criticizing Russian leader Vladimir Putin for his unprovoked war against Ukraine. At the end of the speech, Biden blurted out, “For God’s sake, this man cannot stay in power.” The words themselves were spot on. The only problem was the person speaking them.
As the United States learned during four years under Biden’s predecessor, a president who doesn’t carefully measure his words, especially in times of crisis, can easily get himself and the country into deep trouble. President Donald Trump potentially incriminated himself on a few occasions and created headaches for his aides when his off-the-cuff remarks insulted foreign leaders, wrecked alliances and inspired people to experiment with dangerous, bogus coronavirus remedies.
For all of Biden’s careful pronouncements and wartime decisions designed specifically to avert a direct superpower confrontation that could provoke World War III, he managed with a nine-word sentence to confirm Putin’s warnings that the United States seeks to dominate Russia and install a U.S.-friendly regime.
