President Joe Biden will give a farewell speech to the nation Wednesday night on his way out of the White House − five days before Donald Trump moves back into the Oval Office.
Biden will undoubtedly paint a picture of a robust, successful tenure. It might be tempting to see America and the world through his rose-colored glasses, but I won’t be fooled. The disasters have piled up one after another these past four years while Biden was president.
And I can’t say goodbye to Biden fast enough.
Millions of Americans felt left behind in Biden’s economy
Biden is sure to talk about what he believes is a strong U.S. economy. In a speech Friday, Biden said that the economy had made “transformational progress” on his watch, and that he added 16.6 million jobs.
Biden did add jobs, I’ll give him that. According to Forbes, employment is up 12%. Unemployment is down to 4.1% from 6.2% in early 2021.
Even so, job growth couldn’t ease the pain that the high rate of inflation inflicted on Americans during Biden’s presidency. Consumer prices grew at an average annual rate of 5.4%. The annual inflation rate was only 1.9% during Trump’s first term.
President Joe Biden leaves the stage after his speech at the State Department in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 13, 2025.
The high cost of food, housing and even used vehicles has left many Americans frustrated and discouraged. The American dream seems more like a vapor than an attainable goal.
The Associated Press’ VoteCast, a survey of Americans who cast ballots in November, found that 3 in 10 voters reported “falling behind’’ financially in recent years, and that an extraordinary 90% of voters were somewhat or very worried about the cost of groceries. About 80% were concerned about the cost of health care, housing and gasoline.
No president is entirely responsible for the success or failure of the U.S. economy. But Biden continued to pile up trillions of dollars in deficit spending even after alarms about surging inflation were clanging.
I won’t miss a president who ignored inflation until it was too late, and I bet most Americans won’t, either.
Biden presided over a world on fire
In his farewell speech, Biden also will likely put a positive spin on his handling of foreign relations. On Monday, the president delivered a speech at the State Department defending his foreign policy record.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are weaker,” Biden said. “We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
The reality, however, is far more grim.
Opinion: My heart breaks as Los Angeles burns. But where are the city’s leaders?
On Biden’s watch, Russia invaded Ukraine, Hamas attacked Israel, the United States bungled its withdrawal from Afghanistan and military alliances binding China, Iran, North Korea and Russia grew stronger.
Americans are still being held hostage in Gaza after more than 15 months of captivity, and antisemitism has increased in the United States and around the globe.
Opinion newsletter: Sign up for our newsletter on conservative values, family and religion from columnist Nicole Russell. Get it delivered to your inbox.
We’ll never know for certain what disasters might have been avoided if a stronger U.S. president had been in office. But we do know that the United States and the world enjoyed a period of relative peace when Trump was in the White House.
I won’t miss a president who looked weak and failed to deter war around the world.
Biden refused to be honest about his health
The biggest thing I won’t miss about Biden is his blatant dishonesty.
The president failed to be straight with Americans about his failing health and his ability to serve a second term. That sowed even deeper distrust among Americans at a time when the public’s trust in our government is dangerously low.
Opinion: Democrats lied repeatedly in 2024. Don’t let them gaslight us again in 2025.
He also vowed repeatedly that he would not pardon his son Hunter, who was convicted in federal court on felony gun and tax charges. But then the president broke his vow, handing Hunter a get-out-of-jail-free card that erased 11 years’ of actual and potential crimes.
Despite what Biden is likely to claim in his farewell address, the truth paints a different story. From high inflation and rampant dishonesty, to standing by as wars broke out, Biden failed repeatedly in his one term in the White House. I won’t miss him.
Goodbye and good riddance, Mr. President.
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.
You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden farewell speech can’t erase his failures as president | Opinion
