We are facing an “unprecedented moment in the history of the Union.” This is how President Joe Biden, quoting words spoken by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his State of the Union Address in January 1941, began his address before Congress.
It was a wide-ranging speech, about 90 minutes long, in which the president talked about American and international problems, from aid to Ukraine and Israel and the Palestinians, to the economy, schools, assault weapons, massacres, immigration and tax relief, and also abortion rights.
It was a constructive speech with Biden touching on his administration’s positivity and the obstacles artificially created to block reform by stating that “we can fight about the border, or we can fix it. I’m ready to fix it.” Numerous jibes were made at Donald Trump, whom he never called by name, referring to him as “my predecessor” and to whom he said, “You can’t love your country only when you win.” He joked about his age, which, according to polls, is the factor that most worries the electorate. “It doesn’t look like it,” he said, “but I’ve been here for a while. But when you get to my age, things become clearer than before. I know American history.” A quip about his 81 years to emphasize that age is not a handicap but a wealth of experience.
“My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. A future based on the core values that have defined America. Honesty. Decency. Dignity. Equality. To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor. Now some other people my age see a different story. An American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me,” the President said, in a clear reference to Donald Trump.
Biden recalled the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war in Europe, warning that “Putin will not stop” and urging Congress to approve new military aid to Ukraine. Trump’s words on NATO are “dangerous and unacceptable,” Biden said, recalling what his predecessor said about NATO countries not meeting military spending requirements. In the audience, sitting next to First Lady Jill was Ulf Kristersson, the prime minister of Sweden who officially joined NATO yesterday. A gesture with which Biden wanted to emphasize how, even with the entry of Sweden and soon, Finland, he has succeeded in strengthening the Atlantic Alliance in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Biden promised that if he is re-elected and with an adequate majority in Congress, he will restore the right to abortion nationwide with a law.
“I inherited an economy that was on the brink. Now our economy is the envy of the world,” the president said, interrupted repeatedly by applause. Biden went on to claim the success of his economic policy that has brought unemployment to the lowest in half a century. Biden revived a proposal for a tax on the super-rich to raise $25 billion over the next ten years, money to be invested in social spending. Then, on retirement age, with a sneer, he told congressmen, “If you try to raise the retirement age, I will stop you.”
He then spoke about the Middle East conflict between Hamas and Israel. “This war,” he continued, “This war has taken a greater toll on innocent civilians than all previous wars in Gaza combined. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed. Most of whom are not Hamas. Thousands and thousands are innocent women and children, girls and boys also orphaned. Nearly 2 million Palestinians are under bombardment or displaced. Houses destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin. Families without food, water, medicine. It’s heartbreaking.” In the same vein he added that “Israel also has a fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians in Gaza.” Biden said he had ordered the military to build a temporary port on the Gaza coast, with the goal of increasing the flow of aid into the besieged territory.
It was a State of the Union election speech with the president facing again in November a dangerous competitor like Donald Trump who, despite his avalanche of legal troubles, is hailed by half the electorate and is playing for everything because only reelection can save him from his problems with the law. For Biden, the presidency is a matter of pride. For Trump, it is about survival.
In the traditional Republican response to the president’s speech, young Alabama Senator Katie Britt attacked Biden, calling him a “commander no longer in charge.” Speaking from her kitchen at home, the youngest U.S. senator addressed America’s moms, asking them to think about the future of their children. “Our future begins around the kitchen table with mothers and fathers like us.”
Donald Trump had announced via Truth Social that he would comment “live, play by play” on Biden’s speech. But minutes after Biden began the speech his site crashed.
According to a CNN flash poll, 62 percent of viewers believe President Biden’s policies will take the United States in the right direction. The campaign revealed that the hour before and the hour of the speech itself marked the two most fruitful hours of fundraising ever for the president. Biden will continue his offensive in the coming days, with visits to Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Hampshire and Michigan.
It should be noted that amid the general approval of Democrats and commentators, there was no shortage of the usual criticism from the party’s left wing, which complained that Biden let slip an “illegal” about an undocumented immigrant and that he did not talk about “abortion” but about “reproductive services rights.”
The balance, however, sees Democrats happy and Republicans frosty. Biden’s speech last night was vigorous, aggressive, and different from the usual, with an unusual framework that dared to open and close with foreign policy (Russia and Ukraine at the beginning and Middle East and China at the end).
Biden’s anger leaked out at times-for example, against Supreme Court justices on abortion-but also his sense of humor, and affection for his enemies (he addressed some Republican senators directly, making them laugh). The “narrative” of the right (and some Democrats) that the president is old, senile and weak, crumbled in the face of his lucidity and obvious energy (he stayed after the 66-minute-long speech for almost half an hour chatting with senators and congressmen, taking selfies, etc.).
Among other things, several times he distanced himself from the text, seizing on his rivals’ loud comments and conversing with them, only to return to the text without difficulty. Unable, therefore, to attack him on his “senility,” the right-wing sites and Fox attacked him for “too partisan” a speech.
