Former Democratic Rep. Harold Ford, now a Fox News contributor, gave President Biden a B+ for his State of the Union address, but he was critical of the president for pitting corporations against the people by calling out companies who aren’t paying their “fair share” in taxes.
His criticism perhaps fell a bit flat on Fox News, considering the plug he gave Big Pharma.
“I don’t like when American presidents pit U.S. companies against people,” Ford said. “I know what the president’s trying to get at. But we need a fair tax system, but Pharma was good to us during Covid. Big oil is important to us as we now find ourselves in a war in Ukraine. So, I think that ‘us versus them’ thing is not necessarily the thing to do. But we need a fair tax code.”
Biden said at one point in his speech, “I will pay for the ideas I’ve talked about tonight by making the wealthy and big corporations begin to pay their fair share. Look, here’s the deal. Big corporations aren’t just taking advantage of the tax code. They’re taking advantage of you, the American consumer.”
As for Big Pharma, they raked in billions of dollars in striking deals with the U.S. government for a vaccine that proved not to be all that it was promised to be.
Ford noted in the clip below that Biden got off to a “classy” start by acknowledging leaders from both sides of the aisle, but would add that he was “disappointed” that the president did not offer more on China and on border security and crime.
“I thought we would have a doctrine tonight on China — he missed an opportunity there to do that,” Ford said, adding that he “was looking for a little more in those three areas.”
Thoughts and a grade of a B+ from @HaroldFordJr #FoxNews pic.twitter.com/RkrZ9uUjzh
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) February 8, 2023
Interestingly, those concerns were among those shared by NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson.
“The most important part of the President’s speech is what he didn’t say: no serious plan to tackle spending and inflation, fix the border crisis, bring down crime, or stand up to China,” Hudson said in a statement after Biden delivered his speech. “These warmed-over talking points are no different than what he said last year or the year before. The President could not be more clear that all we should expect is more of the same failed leadership.”
Ford did compliment Biden for his energy, pointing to the president oddly sticking around well after his speech, glad-handing those who stuck around.
“Look, we talked about his energy,” he said. “He’s 80 years old. It took him 30 minutes to get out of the chamber and he could’ve stayed another 30 minutes had they not gaveled the thing down.”
Then again, that could take us full circle back to Big Pharma.
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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