Biden barely mentions Ukraine in one of the longest SOTU speeches in 60 years. Public support for war is shrinking.

Man, that State of the Union speech last night was long.

And I almost watched all of it, finally surrendering and switching to an episode of Slow Horses with the great Gary Oldman

Biden’s second SOTU was one of the longest such speeches of the last 60 years.

It clocked in at one hour, 12 minutes, and 40 seconds.

It was a classic Democratic Party speech touting jobs, social programs, protecting Social Security and Medicare and pro-war.

But unlike Biden’s first SOTU speech, which focused on the war in Ukraine, this one barely mentioned it.

In fact, it was mentioned so late in the speech that I missed it by switching to Slow Horses.

By the way, Slow Horses on Apple+ is in its second season and is based on the series of books, the Slough House series of novels by Mick Herron.

Oldman plays Jackson Lamb, the disheveled, hard drinking head of Slough House, a dumping ground for members of the British intelligence service in a spy vs. spy, often deadly game with Russian agents.

The plot can get confusing, but watching Oldman and the rest of the cast is totally entertaining.

But back to Biden’s speech.

By turning it off a few minutes early, I missed any mention of the year-old war in Ukraine. That’s how far down it was buried in the speech.

I didn’t miss any mention of the disaster in Turkey and Syria, the earthquake that has killed over 8,000 by last count, because there wasn’t any mention of it

I donated to Doctors Without Borders.

Biden spent less than two minutes discussing the war. He received some Republican applause and a standing O from Democrats when he asked whether Americans would "stand for the defense of democracy.”

The truth is that American public support for unlimited aid to Ukraine is slipping.

In December, a poll from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found that only 40% of respondents said the United States should "maintain its current level of support for Ukraine indefinitely."

Americans are divided on whether the United States should support Ukraine for "as long as it takes," with support dropping 10 percentage points since the summer.

Folks are beginning to have doubts about an endless war, the threat of nuclear weapons and the billions going to the U.S. war industry without any movement towards talks and negotiations.

Me too.