It was quite the weekend, first Biden saying “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power” referring to Putin when wrapping up his speech in Warzaw. Then Will Smith also going off script but in a decidedly different way. And while the Oscar winner belatedly apologized on Instagram, the president did not take his commentary back at all and clarified it as ‘moral outrage’.
The Biden-Putin episode brought back memories of Ronald Reagan going off the carefully state department scripted speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in 1987 where he called on the then Russian leader to get rid of the Berlin Wall, “"Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!". Reagan would later say that seeing the wall from where he stood brought out real anger in him and that it then came out in a very direct and testy way. But, he had made his point and it must have contributed to the wall actually coming down two years later. Reagan had signalled to the Soviet leadership what he viewed as an important trigger to make progress. Now that he has clarified his comments it is clear Biden felt the same way Reagan felt. He added his personal feelings which were of course not in the drafted speech, but having seen what is happening on the ground and meeting Ukrainian families he just let it go. It was good and Biden has always been known for this sort of stuff, it has made him sympathetic, human. And in doing so he indicated that there needs to be a real game changer for this war to end. Whoever wants to pick up the challenge - not a small one by the way - it is clear what it is: Putin has got to go.
The following scramble to walk the comments back by the White House and the moralizing by a lot of commentators pointing to the danger of these type of unscripted comments not being a formal US policy were to be expected. The fear that it may enrage the Russians even further was brought up as a key argument, French president Macron weighed with his concern that he was still talking to Putin on a regular basis. But all of these concerns are outweighed exactly by what Biden pointed out, a clear message of moral outrage. Relations with Russia are at rock bottom anyway and despite endless chats it seems Putin is not exactly the listener we hoped he would be.
The humanitarian crisis on the ground calls for moral outrage precisely the way Biden projected it, a sense of urgency to get going on multiple levels is therefore required. Biden may not have deliberately gone off script, it just happened as his anger built up during his speech. Reagan’s fury was likewise driven by witnessing real human suffering. Whoever picks up the call to action remains to be seen, but it is very clear what needs to happen.
Photo: Reagan and Biden, somewhere in the 1980s. I always find it interesting that Reagan left the White House at age 77, while Biden entered it at age 78. Both, in very different ways, great speakers with clear principled points of view. Both also very reluctant to get the US involved militarily.