Washington: US President Joe Biden had three things he had to achieve in his final State of the Union address before this year’s presidential election.
First, he had to assuage concerns that he is too old and unfit for another term.
US President Joe Biden delivered a fiery State of the Union address.Credit: Bloomberg
Second, he had to convince a sceptical nation of what he’s achieved over the past three years and lay out a vision for another four.
And third, he had to draw a contrast with Donald Trump and make their looming rematch a referendum on the former president, when elections are often referendums on the incumbent.
To that end, the 81-year-old president did a convincing enough job, delivering a loud and fiery address warning that basic freedoms are under attack, both domestically and overseas.
“I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while,” he joked at one point, drawing laughs from the audience in the joint sitting of Congress.
“My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy … Now some other people my age see a different story: an American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me.”
Fresh from the Super Tuesday primary races, Biden did not name Trump once, referring to him only as “my predecessor”, but warned what was at stake if he was re-elected: democracy, reproductive rights, Ukraine’s sovereignty.
He addressed the crisis at the US-Mexico border by attacking Trump for derailing a bill that could have reduced illegal crossings, and told him: “instead of playing politics and pressuring members of Congress to block this bill, join me in telling Congress to pass it”.
He outlined what he had done to try to alleviate cost-of-living pressures for Americans, such as lowering prescription drugs and eliminating student debt, and called for the corporate minimum tax to be raised to at least 21 per cent.
A person interrupts President Joe Biden as he delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress.Credit: AP
And he sought to tackle the outrage over the Israel-Hamas war by outlining plans to construct a pier on the Gaza coast to allow much-needed humanitarian aid into the territory.
“I know the last five months have been gut-wrenching for so many people, for the Israeli people, the Palestinian people, and so many here in America,” he said, acknowledging that the carnage had been heartbreaking to see.
“To the leadership of Israel I say this: humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority. As we look to the future, the only real solution is a two-state solution.”
Arguably, though, the biggest challenge Biden faced was not what he planned to say, but rather, how he said it.
Marjorie Taylor Green, a Republican from Georgia, heckles President Joe Biden during the 2024 State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington.Credit: Bloomberg
While there are still eight months until election day, almost every meaningful poll suggests the president is trailing Trump, partly because voters are concerned about his age and ability to last another four-year term.
Indeed, ahead of the address, Trump’s Make America Great Again committee sought to highlight Biden’s mental acuity by releasing an attack ad filled with footage of him stumbling on stairs and having awkward memory lapses, before posing the question “Can Biden even survive until 2029?”
To that end, expectations were so low that it didn’t take much for the president to exceed them. He looked comfortable in the chamber, stumbled only a few times, and appeared to revel in the jeers of Republicans.
Among them was far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had earlier greeted Biden wearing a MAGA cap as he entered the room.
During his speech, she heckled him, insisting he say the name of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old woman who was killed by an undocumented immigrant in Greene’s home state of Georgia. Biden did, and acknowledged the tragedy.
State of the Union addresses are often a form of performative pageantry. The president enters a packed chamber, there’s a standing ovation from his colleagues, a laundry list of policies, and special guests.
This year among the guests was Latorya Beasley, whose IVF treatment was cancelled following the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos should be considered children, along with Texas woman Kate Cox, who had to travel out of state for abortion care that she would have been able to receive if the Supreme Court had not repealed Roe v Wade.
Also in the audience were the justices of the Supreme Court, whom Biden looked at directly as he lamented the way women’s reproductive rights had been curtailed.
“With all due respect, justices, women are not without electoral or political power. You’re about to realise just how much,” he told them.
Trump meanwhile, had vowed to do a live “play-by-play” critique of Biden’s speech on his Truth Social website but suffered some network failures.
The website seemed to kick back into gear about an hour later, with Trump posting: “This may be the Angriest, Least Compassionate, and Worst State of the Union Speech ever made. It was an Embarrassment to our Country!”
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