SNOWFLAKES MELT:

Biden's remarks to the massive outdoor crowd were a call to action not just to stop Putin but, as American listeners surely noted, to recognize the threats to democracy that exist within our own country. He not only praised the courage of the people of Ukraine but made it clear that they were fighting on behalf of all of us who value democracy worldwide. He enumerated the ways that the U.S. and our allies would seek to aid Ukraine but he also made it clear that our commitment extended beyond the current war. "We must commit now to be in this fight for the long haul. We must remain unified today and tomorrow and the day after and for the years and decades to come," he said.

Then, he added, "It will not be easy. There will be costs. But it's a price we have to pay. Because the darkness that drives autocracy is ultimately no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere."

The speech marked a historical watershed that should not be overshadowed by his apparently extemporaneous reference to Putin at its conclusion, "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power." While controversy swirled around the remark, and the White House later sought to walk it back, that moment of clarity from the plain-spoken president elevated his speech. It made it clear that Biden's passion was deeply felt and real. It was the truth at a time when it is essential to be honest about Putin's barbarism and the threat he poses not just to the world, but to the people of his own country who will be denied full access to the community of nations so long as he remains in office.

While Biden's speech was significant because it addressed a geopolitical shift with long-term consequences for the world--and while it clarified the starkness of the divide in America between Biden's party and his opponents who have defended Putin and attacked democracy themselves--it also underscored the president's deep sense of urgency concerning the crisis in Ukraine.

The war that has been raging for over a month now since Putin's armies sought to compound the brutality of their 2015 invasion of Eastern Ukraine with a new wave of atrocities, has reached a point of inflection. Putin's armies are not only facing stiff resistance but outside of Kyiv and in the East of Ukraine, they are actually being pushed back. Russian losses are now, according to estimates, likely to already be higher than all those suffered in Russia's decade-long Afghanistan debacle. Ukraine has put up an extraordinary fight and if one thing is now clear it is that the easy path to victory that Putin and some analysts thought existed was an illusion.

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