President Joe Biden delivered a third State of the Union address that could be among the most important speeches he gives during his presidency as the 2024 campaign season kicks off. His list of objectives was long: his accomplishments in office, a second-term agenda, allay concerns about his age and fitness and provide a contrast with Republicans, including his rival Donald Trump.
The political stakes over Gaza have risen along with the horrific death toll in recent months. Dissatisfaction with Biden’s support of Israel is especially strong among progressives and younger voters. Biden duly announced a new development that the U.S. military will build an emergency pier on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast. The pier is intended to get desperately needed aid into Gaza, where the United Nations has said that more than a half-million people are facing deprivation and near-starvation. Biden emphasized that “no U.S. boots will be on the ground.” Instead, the plan is to construct the pier from offshore. He failed to address the fact that, so far, the cease-fire he says he is seeking in the Middle East has not worked.
Biden has tried to distance himself from conservatives who celebrated the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade. Republican-led states passed abortion restrictions and bans after Roe was overturned. The issue resonates with many Democratic voters who have continued to call for access to abortion and reproductive health care. On Thursday night, Biden promised to defend access to abortion nationwide. “If you, the American people, send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I will restore Roe v Wade as the law of the land again,” he said. Citing recent election victories for Democrats since the right to abortion was revoked, the US president also said the “electoral power” of women will help his party win votes again in November. He also blamed Trump for the fall of Roe; the Republican president appointed three conservative justices to the Supreme Court who helped overturn the legal precedent.
Biden may not have said Trump’s name during his remarks, but there was little question that Trump was at the center of the State of the Union, making Thursday’s speech a particularly politically tinged yearly address. The president took multiple digs at Trump; his prepared remarks referenced “my predecessor” 13 times. In the very opening of his speech, he referred to “my predecessor” while lambasting the former president for his statement about encouraging Russia to invade NATO members who don’t meet defense spending targets. Shortly after, he went after election lies following the 2020 election as the “gravest threat to democracy” since the Civil War. By then, a pattern had emerged: on abortion, immigration, taxes and more, Biden repeatedly made the contrast with Trump, with Democrats in the audience backing him up with cheers chanting “4 more years”.
Age and cognitive ability are President Biden’s most serious vulnerabilities as he seeks a second term. Polling consistently shows roughly 75 percent of the American public are concerned about the 81-year-old ability to serve a second term effectively. In the closing stages of Thursday’s speech, Biden took the issue on directly and tried to turn it to his advantage — or at least reduce the scale of his liability. Beginning by joking, “I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while,” Biden made the argument that his age gives him a broad and true view of American history and values. He cited attributes including dignity and honesty, adding “other people my age see it differently” in a clear jab at Trump. His predecessor, Biden implied, was focused on “resentment, revenge and retribution.” The age issue is not going away. And Biden did garble several lines Thursday, even while avoiding any truly disastrous gaffes. But he at least did his best to weave a positive narrative around his big weakness. Biden has released multiple ads joking about his age and trying to lighten the issue as an attempt from the white house to resolve concern about it.
