Last week, our neighbor from Alabama, Senator Katie Britt, delivered the Republican response to President Biden’s State of the Union address. Speaking directly from her family’s home, she discussed challenges facing everyday Americans. Her heartfelt reflections contrasted the angry rant delivered earlier that night.

The president tried to sell his agenda to the American people, but Mississippians can see right through the shouting. His speech was over an hour long and felt more like a partisan rally than a fulfillment of the commander-in-chief’s constitutional duty.

To me, the Republican response was a breath of fresh air. In just a quarter of the time, Senator Britt summarized the matter plainly. She said, “Families are worse off. Our communities are less safe. And our country is less secure.” Then, she offered a vision of a bright American future based on grit at home and leadership on the global stage.

The President Sweeps His Mistakes Under the Rug

Often, what a president does not say is worse than what he does say. Mr. Biden noted that inflation was falling but neglected to mention how his policies raised it to precipitous heights. The president even had the audacity to say that our economy was the envy of the world. There were many applause interruptions during the speech, but I doubt if any were from families feeling the burden of his high prices.

In a particularly disappointing moment, the president refused to call an unborn baby a “child.” Instead, he chose the clinical term “fetus,” hoping to make his radical abortion agenda more palatable. His language distorted reality when he talked about the southern border, too. After three years of allowing record-breaking crossings, he pretended that he was waiting for Congress to send him a border security bill.

He also tried to duck responsibility for the increasingly dangerous state of the world. The president did mention Iran’s backing of Hamas’ attack on Israel. However, he did not take responsibility for his tepid response when Iran had a hand in the deaths of five American service members. President Biden mentioned China’s growing threat but failed to call for a defense budget that would actually help us meet that danger.

An Honest Evaluation of Biden Policies

The Republican response reminded Americans that these increasingly chaotic situations were preventable.

Early in 2021, the president invited financial anxiety when he rammed through massive spending bills. He scoffed when everyone warned that inflation would follow. The result was as unfortunate as it was predictable. We now pay more for less, forcing some families to choose between a gallon of milk and a gallon of gas. Credit card debt is at record highs as Americans are reaching the end of their savings and go into the red to make ends meet.

Mr. Biden directly created today’s border crisis by reversing effective Trump-era border polices. With passion in her voice, Senator Britt mourned how the vulnerable have suffered the most. Cartels have ramped up human trafficking operations, and too many Mississippi families are mourning the deadly impact of fentanyl on their communities.

Finally, she cast a vision for American leadership on the global stage. She was right to say that President Biden’s weakness has made the world less stable. The president has dealt with Iran using kid gloves, slow-walked resistance to Russia, and failed to stand up to China’s aggression.

The Democrat president and Republican senator agreed that America is at a crossroad at home and abroad. But as they spoke, it became clear that only one of them was in touch with the real state of our union and its path forward.