I’d say the majority of Americans would agree with President Biden that Putin “cannot remain in power”. But if Biden was really trying to express “moral outrage” and didn’t really mean to say that Putin “cannot remain in power”, then what he should’ve said was that he “felt moral outrage”. Stating that you feel “moral outrage” and that Putin “cannot remain in power” are two totally different things.
If you feel that Putin “cannot remain in power”, many will be lead to believe that you intend to do something about him not remaining in power. It’s like Spider-Man saying of any of his nemeses “they must be stopped” but not doing anything about stopping them.
Biden went on to say: “I was expressing my outrage. He shouldn’t remain in power. Just like, you know, bad people shouldn’t continue to do bad things. But it doesn’t mean we have a fundamental policy to do anything to take Putin down in any way.”
Spidey would agree about the bad people, but at least he would do something about them, not just express his “moral outrage” and state that they “cannot remain in power”. I guess that’s where Zelensky and the Ukrainians or the citizens of Russia will come in.
michellemchatton.com 