The annual State of the Union address is a chance for presidents to claim credit for great achievements and outline plans for the future.  With the memory of China's spy balloon crossing our most sensitive military installations unmolested hovering over the House chamber, the stink of Biden's passivity and failure will taint any such boasting.

And the public ain't buying it, as even the Democrats' house organ, the Washington Post, reports:

Two years into a presidency that the White House casts as the most effective in modern history, President Biden is set to deliver a State of the Union address Tuesday to a skeptical country with a majority of Americans saying they do not believe he has achieved much since taking office, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The poll finds that 62 percent of Americans think Biden has accomplished "not very much" or "little or nothing" during his presidency, while 36 percent say he has accomplished "a great deal" or "a good amount." On many of Biden's signature initiatives — from improving the country's infrastructure to making electric vehicles more affordable to creating jobs — majorities of Americans say they do not believe he has made progress, the poll finds.

The dynamic arguably raises the stakes of Biden's prime time speech on Tuesday. The president is expected to use the platform to tout his accomplishments and remind voters that many of the laws he signed during the first half of his term are just now being implemented.

Pete Buttigieg, the tone-deaf secretary of transportation, tried Sunday to sell the notion that Biden is a master of accomplished triumphs, and it went over about as well as his prediction that the Christmas holiday would see airlines do well after having screwed up earlier.

Biden's 2022 SOTU (YouTube screen grab).

This year, Kevin McCarthy will be sitting where Nancy Pelosi was last year.  I don't expect him to disgrace his office and the occasion by tearing up the speech's transcript the way Nancy did, but his face may reveal skepticism, maybe even laughter.  While I'd love to see him bring a balloon in (a big red one, please!), tie it to his gavel, and have it floating off to Biden's side as he speaks, I don't think he would descend to that level, either.  But a fellow can dream, can't he?

Hat tip: Ed Lasky.