Paul Harvey redux

From a New York Times article by Peter Baker about last night’s presidential address to the nation:

He always knew that he would be delivering a speech like this. He just thought, or hoped, that it would be more than four years from now. Yet while it was not technically a farewell address, with six months still to go in office and more presidenting to do, it was the beginning of Joe Biden’s long goodbye.

Mr. Biden’s address to the nation from the Oval Office on Wednesday night was all Joe, love him or hate him — the paeans to American exceptionalism, the evocations of family, the selective boasting about his record, the favorite lofty phrases about an “inflection point” and “saving our democracy,” and yes, the soft, raspy old man’s voice that no longer commands the room the way it once did.

“And yes, the soft, raspy old man’s voice”: it sounds as though Peter Baker is attempting to channel Paul Harvey.

I read these paragraphs aloud in the Orange Crate Art test kitchen. Elaine had the same gah! reaction.

[A belated thought: Baker’s prose is also reminiscent of H. V. Kaltenborn in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: “But those tired Boy Ranger legs are buckling.”