JFK, Reagan and Biden | Newsbusters

President Biden’s Rede from Warsaw Saturday night, reminded me of two previous presidents who delivered speeches confronting the autocracy that was then the Soviet Union and is now Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, a man Biden has rightly called a war criminal.

On June 26, 1963, Kennedy spoke before the Berlin Wall which the Soviets had erected to stem the flow of Berliners out of the communist “paradise” to the West. In his remarks, Kennedy said, “Freedom is indivisible and when one man is enslaved, all are not free” and “…lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, to the hopes of tomorrow … to the advance of freedom everywhere…” Kennedy’s remarks came to be known as the “I am a Berliner” address.

Biden echoed Kennedy’s optimism when he quoted a phrase Pope John Paul II often used: “Do not be afraid.”

1987 Ronald Reagan visited Berlin and delivered his “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” speech. Reagan, just like Biden, contrasted the systems of government which preserve freedom and those run by autocrats that restrict freedom. Reagan said, “Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom is the solution to the old hatreds that exist among nations. It replaces them with peace and comity. Freedom wins. … We believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace.”

In his speech Biden went further than Kennedy and Reagan, calling Vladimir Putin a “butcher.” Speaking directly to the Russian people (“if they can hear me”) he tacitly called upon them to remove Putin from office, saying “This man can’t remain at the top.” A White House statement walked back his clear reference to regime change, but what he said remains in the official transcript. Biden later denied he was calling for Putin’s ouster, but the damage was done.

Biden stated that this war would last a very long time. Was he referring to the Putin war on Ukraine or something larger, such as the long-running Cold War that lasted decades? That is the problem. What’s the endgame and what is America’s strategy for reaching it? Biden still won’t supply Ukraine with old Soviet MiG airplanes to “close the skies,” fearing that could trigger the use of nuclear weapons by Putin.

Biden again spoke of the need to end the West’s reliance on fossil fuels and create more renewable energy. The president stated that this is not an achievable goal, and that the war between the autocracies (and democracy) will take years. The worldwide demand for oil was preceded by autocracies, and they will continue to exist even if renewable energy replaces it.

Conservatives should praise Biden for what may be the best and most energized speech of his presidency while still asking why he and NATO won’t provide more of what Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he needs to defeat the invasion. This is a different situation than what Kennedy faced and Reagan. It was a wall that had been erected by an occupation force, which was not bombarding East Germany. But guards were ready to shoot anyone who tried to flee. Those presidents used powerful words and Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative to wear down the Soviet Union and cause its collapse.

Ukraine is now facing predatory forces, which have been instructed by another Russian dictator, to kill civilians, even babies.

The BBC reports an estimated 200,000 Russians have left their country since the start of the war, a significant “brain drain.” Those who have stayed should heed President Biden’s call to remove Putin from power by whatever means necessary. Kennedy and Reagan may have supported such an objective, I believe.