The stakes for President Biden were incredibly high. Democrats feared a “senior moment,” a slip, a malaprop, a Mitch McConnell blank stare, a trip on the steps. They feared that the President would show that he was too old for the job, for the campaign. For many, the bar for success was very low—don’t mess up.
But President Biden and his closest advisors had no such fears. They believed that he was more than up to the task. As one said on the afternoon of the speech, “He has this!!”
And indeed he did.
From the moment the Clerk of the House bellowed, “Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States!” From that very moment, the room, belonged to Joe Biden. During his entrance, he shook hands, hugged everyone within reach, kissed female friends, exchanged greetings and stories as he took charge of the room with a very Bidenesque entrance. This was Joe Biden’s moment.
He was not shaken when Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), proving to be the embarrassment to the House and the Republican Party that she is, ignoring tradition by appearing in a MAGA hat, thrust a Laken Riley pin into his hand. In fact, he kept it and used it later in his speech.
When he reached the podium, he greeted Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Vice President Kamala Harris, handing them copies of his speech. Then he basked in the applause and warm feelings. And he never gave up the limelight. While normally the Speaker introduces the President, Johnson stood awkwardly by as Biden thanked the Congress for its welcome and began his remarks.
Biden, the fighting politician that he is, was ready to answer the bell. And answer it he did, delivering what Amy Walter of The Cook Politicald Report with Amy Walter dubbed the most political State of the Union in her memory. David Brooks of the New York Times agreed, and his memory is much longer than Walters’s.
Biden’s speech was certainly not a knock out, but it showed a fighter who could get up off the canvas and fight back with the best of them.
The contrast between Johnson and Harris, sitting behind the podium from which Biden spoke, was amazing. Vice President Harris was reveling in Biden’s energy and feistiness. She was up on her feet time and again, leading the partisan cheers. The Speaker looked, well, . . . . He looked like he would rather be anywhere other than where he was. He was not quite a potted plant, but he did not know what to do when the President attacked Republicans and his leadership of his party, nor, more interestingly, when he agreed with the President, as on the need to aid Ukraine. This was the case of a seasoned politician hitting his marks, and a rookie, stupefied as he took blow after blow with no way to respond.
In the speech itself, the President did three things he had to do.
First, he calmed fears that he was not up to a vigorous campaign. This was Joe Biden at his best—not perfect, to be sure, but Joe Biden has never been perfect. If the goal was to produce the rhetorical flourishes of JFK or Barack Obama, that is not Joe Biden. But if it was to “Give ‘em Hell,” like Harry Truman, he was there. No one cared that, when he was speaking quickly, he mispronounced “predecessor.” Few fretted over the few points that irritated the progressives in his party. They were noted. They may have been unfortunate, but this speech was about tone and vigor and feistiness and combativeness and passion; and they were all there.
Second, he had to lay out his vision for a second term—and for the years immediately ahead. And he did that. He talked about taxing the rich in way that would benefit the middle class; he talked about climate and affordable housing; he talked about agriculture programs and infrastructure and education. He reminded everyone of the legacy of John Lewis and those who marched in Selma 59 years ago, calling for needed federal voting right reform. He ticked off the items, the laundry list that is a necessary part of the SOTU. Few specifics but clear enough references for everyone to understand.
Third, most importantly, he drew the contrast between Democrats and Republicans, especially between himself and “his predecessor.” He took on “his predecessor” and the Republican Party directly and pointedly. Right from the start he drew parallels to the crisis confronting FDR on the eve of our entry into World War II, noting that our time now was just as perilous, as we and our NATO allies confront an increasingly aggressive Russia under Putin. He called for aid to Ukraine, stating that a vast majority of those in attendance favored such aid, but it was held up by Republican Party leaders, giving undue deference to “his predecessor.” Johnson did not know how to look and seemed to be praying to be off camera.
The President went on to talk about January 6th, commenting that many on the floor last night had been victims of that violence three years ago. He challenged anyone who thought that was how our democracy should work. And he looked at the Republican side of the aisle, sitting on their hands, looking like bored teenagers playing with their cellphones, as if to ask, “Really, is that who you are? Is that the legacy you want for your children?”
He next turned to the Alabama Supreme Court decision on unused IVF cells and drew a direct line from the Supreme Court’s overturning Roe v. Wade to that Alabama ruling. He quoted the Supreme’ Court’s ruling that said that women had a political voice, gesturing to the Justices in attendance, trying to be respectful but not quite succeeding, and proclaimed that women’s voices would be heard. The Justices sat stoically; the Democratic female Members of Congress, largely clad in white in support of abortion and reproductive rights, roared their approval, especially as he shouted that if re-elected he would restore Roe.
The tone was set. In slightly over an hour, the President contrasted his positions and the Democratic Party positions on issue after issue with those of the Republicans. He led with his most popular issues, but did not back away from those on which the GOP seems to have the upper hand. On border security, he challenged Republicans to back the strong bipartisan bill that had been negotiated in the Senate by Senators James Langford (R-OK) and Chris Murphy (D-CT); while some Republicans expressed disagreement with Biden’s characterization of the nature of the bill—as the strongest bill on border security ever proposed—cameras panned to Langford, who was nodding in agreement.
On the Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza, the President did not back down from his support of Israel and her right to self-defense, but he acknowledged the suffering of innocent Palestinians and the Israeli responsibility for protecting the innocent. While not quieting critics, Biden appeased many by announcing a new program to get humanitarian aid in, using a floating dock on the Mediterranean, constructed by our military with “no boots on the ground,” and opening a northern border crossing, which the Netanyahu government accepted at his insistence.
At the end, the President made the same case he made in 2020, a contrast between his values—honesty, decency, dignity, equality, respect for others, giving everyone a fair shot and hate no safe quarter—and the values of “his predecessor,” based on resentment, revenge, and retribution. Biden referenced his age and used it to his advantage—to call up the values that led to America’s finest hours.
The Democrats left the House chamber jubilant and energized. Their man had met the challenge of the hour. Biden was swarmed by fellow Democrats as he left the hall. In fact, he may still be there, and he was not going to leave until he had shaken every hand—and that took longer than the televised feed continued.
The State of the Union got Biden off the canvass and fighting. It energized his followers who were listening, even those filled with doubt. Now he and Harris will hit the campaign trail—and they will hit it hard in key battleground staters for the next month. They hope to benefit from the momentum they have gained.
However, despite the pomp, despite the media hype, the history of past State of the Union approval ratings bumps has been that they are small (averaging less than 2%, with only Bill Clinton’s bumps in 1993 and 1998 exceeding 10%) and tend not to last long.
Biden’s approval ratings remain very low, and he trails “his predecessor,” as he called him, in most recent polls. But the election is nearly 8 months away, and last night’s speech is the most positive moment for the Democrats in months. The question is whether Biden and his surrogates can go from there and convince the American people that his hand on the tiller has been far steadier than was Trump’s and that his values and vision for the future are ones they can embrace.