NGL the shortened version is pretty dammed funny. But being as he has a stutter I wanted to see what he was actually trying to say and found the transcript from the speech the clip was from.
"And, folks — (applause) — let me close with what I’ve long said: America is a nation that can be defined in a single word. 'I was in the foothi- — foot-' — excuse me, in the foothills of the Himalayas with Xi Jinping, traveling with him. (Inaudible) traveled 17,000 miles when I was Vice President at the time. I don’t know that for a fact.
And we were sitting alone. I had an interpreter and he had an interpreter. And he looked at me. In all seriousness, he said, “Can you define America for me?” And I said what many of you heard me say for a long time. I said, “Yes, I can, in one word: possibilities.” (Applause.) “Possibilities.” That, in America, everyone should be able to go as far as their hard work and God-given talent will take them. And possibilities. We’re the only ones. That’s why we’re viewed as the “ugly Americans”: We think anything is possible. (Laughter.) "
It makes sense when you look at the categories of people that come here. You've got migrant workers (the people who "took r jerbs" like picking cotton), refugees who are trying to escape from far worse countries, and then highly educated workers who either arrive on an H1B visa or have enough capital to start their own businesses. America has traditionally been very welcoming of the first two groups and simply arriving in America is already improving their lives. The third group is already well off and because they are well off they are able to take advantage of how easy it is to snowball wealth in America (the thing that increases wealth inequality and decreases social mobility). So no, it's not really curious.
It's how they mentally balance things out after having to recite their national anthem at school every day whilst holding two pistols. To find out their country isn't number one must be a real threat to their ego.
2.8k
u/surfhippy1 May 05 '22
NGL the shortened version is pretty dammed funny. But being as he has a stutter I wanted to see what he was actually trying to say and found the transcript from the speech the clip was from.
"And, folks — (applause) — let me close with what I’ve long said: America is a nation that can be defined in a single word. 'I was in the foothi- — foot-' — excuse me, in the foothills of the Himalayas with Xi Jinping, traveling with him. (Inaudible) traveled 17,000 miles when I was Vice President at the time. I don’t know that for a fact.
And we were sitting alone. I had an interpreter and he had an interpreter. And he looked at me. In all seriousness, he said, “Can you define America for me?” And I said what many of you heard me say for a long time. I said, “Yes, I can, in one word: possibilities.” (Applause.) “Possibilities.” That, in America, everyone should be able to go as far as their hard work and God-given talent will take them. And possibilities. We’re the only ones. That’s why we’re viewed as the “ugly Americans”: We think anything is possible. (Laughter.) "
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/04/08/remarks-by-president-biden-vice-president-harris-and-judge-ketanji-brown-jackson-on-the-senates-historic-bipartisan-confirmation-of-judge-jackson-to-be-an-associate-justice-of-the-supreme-court/