According to Axios, the president’s team is preparing to “rewrite” the China-centric portions of his State of the Union address, set to take place on Tuesday. That leads to the question of exactly what Biden was planning on originally saying.
Biden and his speechwriters are prepared to be nimble — and likely rewrite — the China sections of the speech, as officials weigh Beijing’s response to the U.S. military’s downing of the surveillance balloon after it drifted across North America.
The president’s challenge is a signal to Beijing that violating America’s airspace won’t be tolerated, while also convincing Americans — and skeptical Republicans — that he did enough to protect U.S. airspace. Biden said that on Wednesday he ordered the balloon to be shot down, and that national security officials thought it was safest to wait until it was over water.
Biden also wants to preserve his administration’s ability to cooperate with China on everything from the global economy to climate change.
The president’s challenge is a signal to Beijing that violating America’s airspace won’t be tolerated, while also convincing Americans — and skeptical Republicans — that he did enough to protect U.S. airspace. Biden said that on Wednesday he ordered the balloon to be shot down, and that national security officials thought it was safest to wait until it was over water.
Biden also wants to preserve his administration’s ability to cooperate with China on everything from the global economy to climate change.
Was Biden actually planning to brag about his relationship with China until the spy balloon incident? That seems to be the implication here, right? If he was going to take a hardline from the beginning, there’d be no reason to rewrite anything.
You have to love the mention of Republicans there as well. That’s the real issue, I guess. Those darn “skeptical Republicans.” It couldn’t be that Biden’s handling of the situation was weak and signaled to Beijing that incursions into US airspace will be tolerated. And if Biden really did order the balloon shot down on Wednesday and didn’t force his subordinates to carry out the order immediately, that’s not a show of strength either. Who is actually in charge over at the White House?