I have been posting articles online since 1998, and more than once I have written words that were ill-advised, needlessly provocative and better left unsaid. Words are powerful, even the words of a humble blogger can cause a lot of grief and confusion.
Nobody has a greater platform than the President of the United States, as President Joe Biden is acutely aware as this quote of his proves:
“The words of a president matter. They can move markets. They can send our brave men and women to war. They can bring peace.”
They can also, as the septuagenarian president discovered on Saturday, spark a global uproar in the middle of a war involving a nuclear power.
With nine ad-libbed words at the end of the most important speech of his presidency, Biden created an international uproar:
“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
These words were incorrectly interpreted by some, and deliberately misinterpreted by others as a call for regime change, an incendiary demand for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be pushed out of office.
A 79-year-old president in obvious mental decline, should never, ever ad-lib. It’s political malpractice for his aides not to warn him, every day, every hour, every minute: Stick to the damn script.
Of course, the world would be better off if Putin was removed from power and he dropped dead. But Biden should keep his thoughts about regime change in Russia to himself.
