On Tuesday, President Joe Biden met other world leaders at the U.N.’s week-long, high-level gathering, the organization’s first meeting of world leaders since the COVID-19 pandemic.
And Biden froze on camera.
“Let me be clear,” Biden began, before giving a strange, halting speech delivered by teleprompter.
“Simply put, the 21st-century — 21st-century results — are badly needed — they’re needed to move us along. That starts with the United Nations, starts right here in this room,”
One Twitter user described Biden, a teetotaler, as sounding intoxicated.
It gets worse.
Biden went on to mangle the following statement in several different ways.
“For one day, for one day, my administration has treated this crisis as an existential threat, form the moment we took office,” Biden said. “Nowhere is that more clear than accelerating the climate crisis — de-accelerating the climate crisis.”
Biden said “for one day” instead of “from day one,” and he made that mistake twice.
Also, the correct term is “decelerating,” not “de-accelerating.”
Good try, though!
Take a look —
Biden's brain freezes during his UN speech: "The 21st century, 21st century results…" pic.twitter.com/hAJ1CiHH4U
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 19, 2023
In addition to Biden, 144 other leaders are scheduled to speak. That’s a number large enough to reflect the polycrisis.
But for the first time in years, U.S. President Joe Biden, who spoke soon after Guterres, is the only leader from the five veto-wielding nations on the U.N. Security Council to address the 193-member assembly.
The other four leaders with veto power are China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s Rishi Sunak. They are all skipping the U.N. this year.
With their absences, Biden attracted more attention than usual, and he was watched especially for his views on China, Russia and Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the absence of leaders from the four Security Council powers has caused grumbling from developing countries who want major global players to listen to their demands.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared at the assembly’s podium on Tuesday. Also scheduled to speak are South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazil’s Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva.
“While Sunak and Macron have an excuse, I do think it is telling that they are absent,” Richard Gowan, director for the U.N.’s International Crisis Group, told CBS News. “That said, I think the General Assembly is a good opportunity for Biden… to work on firming up U.S. ties with non-Western leaders while Xi and Putin are absent.”
In other words, Biden was in the spotlight… and he froze.
What’s more, our nation’s other delegates looked as disorganized as Biden.
Take a look —
The U.S. delegation at the United Nations is paying very close attention during Biden's speech pic.twitter.com/PfGlGsljRU
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 19, 2023
The Associated Press contributed to this article.