Joe Biden delivered a fiery State of the Union address Thursday night, made the case for American democracy, reproductive freedom, funding for Ukraine, a fair tax code, and lowering prescription drug prices. He also repeatedly underscored the threat of Donald Trump — whom he referred to only as “my predecessor.”
Biden entered the halls of Congress later than expected, glad-handing and kissing supporters and taking selfies as Democrats led a cheer of “Four More Years.” Standing before a backdrop of an American flag and flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Mike Johnson, Biden opened his remarks with a joke: “Good evening,” he said. “If I were smart I’d go home now.”
The State of the Union came at a pivotal — even perilous — moment for Biden. He has not been actively campaigning, reflecting a selection cycle in which he’s running all but unopposed for the Democratic nomination (despite losing a few delegates in American Samoa this week). The president is doing few unscripted events, and when he does show up in informal public appearances — going on late night shows, for example — he’s frequently protested by activists demanding a cease to hostilities in Gaza.
But there have also been optimistic signs for the incumbent. This week, as Super Tuesday laid all doubts about an expected rematch against former President Donald Trump to rest, a new wave of polling is looking favorable to the president, showing a modest Biden surge, and a small national lead for the Democrat.
Biden entered the evening with a long list of thorny topics to navigate, and he did so with unexpected vigor and agility.
FITNESS TO SERVE
Biden’s energetic performance foiled detractors who were hoping for a demented man’s addled gaffe-fest.
Biden is only three years older than Republican rival Trump, and both men have at times sounded less fluent in English than they did four years ago, with Biden recently invoking the long-dead François Mitterrand as if he were still president of France, and Trump frequently mixing up Obama for Biden or referring to Nikki Haley as if she were Nancy Pelosi. Fairly or not, the age questions surrounding Biden, 81, have become central to the discussion of his presidency as his gait has stiffened and he increasingly tails off in the middle of a train of thought.
The bar for Biden during the State of the Union was basically on the floor — meaning just getting through the lengthy teleprompted address without incident would have been perceived as a victory. But Biden was undeniably sharp-witted. He even frequently taunted the Republican legislators in the audience, including ribbing former Senate colleague Lindsay Graham for seeming impatient for him to wrap up his speech.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY
Biden has cast himself as a reluctant warrior in his bid for re-election, insisting that he sees Trump as a unique — and perhaps mortal — threat to the American experiment and the “sacred cause” of democracy. Trump’s election denial, as well as his authoritarian tendencies and fascistic rhetoric, have raised legitimate concerns that if he regains the White House he’ll only ever leave in a casket. Biden has campaigned openly in these terms warning that Trump is “willing to sacrifice our democracy [to] put himself in power.”
During the State of the Union, Biden repeatedly cited Abraham Lincoln and warned that democracy is “under assault here at home.” Invoking Jan. 6, he called it a “dagger at the throat of American democracy” and he insisted the “threat remains and democracy must be defended.” Speaking to Republicans in the audience, he said: “My predecessor — and some of you here — seek to bury the truth about Jan. 6.”
Biden talked about the need to “respect everyone” and to “give hate no safe harbor.” Referring indirectly to his rival, Biden’s remarks add: “Some other people my age see a different story: an American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me.”
Biden continued: “Here’s the simplest truth. You can’t love your country only when you win.”
REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM
Abortion and reproductive freedom are top-of-mind concerns in 2024 as red-state legislators and court justices continue to not only curb access to legal abortion care, but threaten to criminalize even routine IVF practices, as the Alabama Supreme Court did in February.
During his speech, Biden pointed to invited guests, women whose reproductive choices have been disrupted, and asked Congress to move to “guarantee the right to IVF” nationwide.
Speaking of abortion rights, and Roe v. Wade, he said of Trump: “My predecessor — he’s the reason it was overturned. And he bragged about it.”
Biden then said of Republicans in the chamber: “My God, what freedom else would you take away.”
Biden also invoked the voting prowess of women who have keyed Democratic election victories on reproductive rights in the Dobbs era. “Clearly those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women,” he said. “But…they will find out when we win again in 2024.” Biden vowed to sign a bill from Congress to “restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again.”
GAZA & GEN Z
Israel’s siege of Gaza — a retaliation for the horrific attacks of October 7 that killed nearly 1,200 — has now stretched on five months, killing an estimated 30,000 Palestinians, displacing nearly 80 percent of the strip’s residents, and put 1 in 4 Gazans on the brink of starvation.
In advance of the president’s speech, the White House previewed a Biden military order to construct a temporary port on the Gaza coast intended to receive emergency shipments of food, water, and shelter materials. The announcement did nothing to mollify protestors who occupied a street near the Capitol in the hour before the speech chanting denunciations of “Genocide Joe.”
Biden insisted in his remarks that he is a stalwart supporter of Israel, but he also that the path to peace is in a two-state solution, and said directly to the “leadership of Israel” that “humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip” and that “Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority.”
THE BORDER
Nothing is animating the far right quite so much as the immigration crisis at the southern border, with the governor of Texas pushing a constitutional showdown over using deadly razor wire to deter border crossers, many of whom have legitimate asylum claims.
In recent months Biden pursued a center-right compromise on immigration, only to have Republicans pull the rug on their own bill. Biden used the State of the Union to paint the GOP as extremists, who would rather keep a campaign issue on the table for Trump than reach across the aisle to cut a deal. “I’m told my predecessor called Republicans in Congress and demanded they block the bill. He feels it would be a political win for me and a political loser for him,” he said, adding that passing the reform at the border would be a victory for America. “We can fight about fixing the border or we can fix it.”
Biden also used the border debate as a platform to contrast his values to Trump’s. “I will not demonize immigrants by saying they’re a ‘poison in the blood’ in our country,” Biden said. “I will not ban people because of their faith.”
“Unlike my predecessor,” Biden added, “I know who we are as a nation.”
THE ECONOMY
Americans have been in a years-long funk about the economy — furious about inflated prices at the grocery store and fast food joints, even as jobs remained plentiful and the economy defied predictions of a recession. But there are signs that the so-called “vibescession” is lifting, and that the sour headwinds of consumer sentiment that Biden has faced for much of his term are reversing.
In recent months the economy has been on a tear. The S&P 500 stock market index has risen nearly 30 percent in the last year — lifting retirement accounts out of the doldrums. The unemployment rate has now held below four percent for the longest stretch since the 1960s, and inflation has finally dropped to levels where the Federal Reserve appears ready to declare victory — and begin cutting interest rates.
Biden touted record investments in green energy as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, as well as spending on roads and bridges now rolling out as a consequence of the bipartisan infrastructure package he passed in 2021. He went off script to taunt GOP members who cheered his remarks on infrastructure but had voted against the spending measure. “If any of you don’t want that money in your districts,” he said in jest, “just let me know.”
Biden spoke of America coming through one of the “toughest periods in our nation’s history” and American communities quietly “writing the greatest comeback story never told.” Biden spoke of “American possibilities” designed to ensure that “everyone has a fair shot and we leave no one behind.”
To make the economy fairer, Biden vowed to tax billionaires, cap drug prices, and protect entitlements from an expected Republican assault. Steely eyed and whispering a bit like Dirty Harry, Biden insisted of anyone who comes after Social Security: “I will stop you.”
