Joe Biden's Whispered Remark During Naval Academy Grad Speech Is Raising Eyebrows

Being president of the United States means that you wear a lot of different hats, and one of the most high profile aspects of the job is delivering speeches. Think of Barack Obama's long pauses, or George W. Bush's Texas twang — many presidents have presented a distinct speaking style, and Joe Biden is no different. As of late, President Biden was asked to give the speech to the graduating class of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. While he did exactly that, people are a bit confused about a few of the remarks. 

According to the "Civics 101" podcast, presidents make up to 400 speeches a year — that means that in four years, they'll give about 1,600 speeches. If even a fraction of those speeches are an hour long, the president will be well on his way to the 10,000 hours needed for mastery, but that many speeches also gives a whole lot of opportunity for words to go wrong — or, at the very least, parts of your speeches to raise an eyebrow or two.

The comment in question this time came after the president pronounced the phrase "Finlandize" as "Fingalize," a term coined by Finland during the Cold War which alluded to the country's careful handling of international relations, per the New York Post. Other than that, the speech seemed to be received fairly well, minus the whispered comment at the end. 

While he's not the worst with words, President Joe Biden is certainly not the most eloquent speaker. According to Politico, his downfall in many of his speeches can be attributed to how he often goes off on his own tangents. "Being Joe Biden's speechwriter is known as one of the hardest jobs in Washington," Dylan Loewe, a former speech writer of Biden's, told Politico. 

Sticking to his tradition, the 79-year-old did just that during his recent speech to the U.S. Naval Academy's graduating class. He went off speech at the end of his time up at the podium, going as far as to whisper a one-liner into the microphone. "And, by the way, once you're commissioned, remember: I'm your Commander-in-Chief," Biden whispered into the microphone after his speech. "So don't ask me too tough a question, okay?"

It's not exactly clear what Biden meant by the remark, although the crowd was noted in the official transcript as having laughed at the sentiment. 

While President Joe Biden has been known for making a gaffe or two during his speeches, some people online reacted to his whispered comments during the graduation ceremony, with some going as far to say that it was "creepy." 

"Enough of the whispering, it creepy not funny," one Twitter user says. Another user replied to a tweet saying, "Kinda sounds like a threat." All in all, there weren't very many positive comments about the whisper.

This is far from the first time that Biden has whispered in a speech, as noted by Newsweek. He is known to throw in little comments in the tone throughout many of his remarks, perhaps for emphasis or style. Despite the some of the public not receiving the stylistic approach well, he continues to add it into speeches as his signature. Everyone needs a thing they're known for, right? Far be it from us to tell him how to do his job.