6 thoughts on Joe Biden's State of the Union speech
MTG, George Santos and Medicare -- Oh my!
President Joe Biden delivered the second State of the Union address of his presidency on Tuesday night, an early messaging preview of what his 2024 reelection campaign might look and sound like.
I jotted down a few thoughts on the speech — and the reaction to it.
One quick overall thought first: I don’t, generally speaking, think Biden is all that good a speech giver. I thought the address tonight, however, was on the strong-to-very-strong end of the speeches I have ever seen him give. He was engaged, energetic and effective.
A major bipartisan play: From the very start of the speech, Biden was clearly aiming to burnish his bipartisan credentials for viewers — and those in attendance in the chamber. He shook newly elected Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s hand and congratulated him. And, he singled out Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for the longevity of his leadership.
And that was just the beginning. Peppered throughout the speech were appeals to bipartisanship from Biden. "If we worked together in the last Congress, there's no reason....we can't work together in this Congress as well,” Biden said at one point.
He also repeatedly hedged some of the most partisan attacks in his prepared remarks, ad-libbing things like “not all of you believe this” and the like as a way to avoid caricaturing all Republicans.
The truth is that Biden is, by nature, a conciliator. With notable exceptions — his time as VP being one of them — Biden has generally shied away from biting partisan hits. It’s also true, of course, that Biden is gearing up to run for a 2nd term in 2024 — and that a message centered on himself as a bipartisan healer is good for business.
“Let’s finish the job.” Biden hasn’t announced he’s running again in 2024 just yet but it was clear from even a cursory listen to his speech that he’s made up his mind about a reelection bid.
The most obvious evidence of that fact was the repetition of the phrase “let’s finish the job” that was salted throughout Biden’s remarks. That certainly sounds like a campaign slogan to me — and it works on a couple levels.
Most obviously it’s Biden saying he’s done a lot of work but there’s more that remains to be done — a common refrain of all presidents running for a second term. But, dig a little deeper — and consider that Biden could be running against Donald Trump again in 2024 — and the “finish the job” rhetoric could also be applied to ridding the country of the billionaire businessman once and for all.
It’s the economy, stupid: If Biden is running (and he certainly sounded like he is tonight) then the economy seems certain to be at the center of that campaign. Biden spent the better part of the first 30 minutes of the speech detailing what his administration had done in regards the economy over the past two years — Inflation Reduction Act, infrastructure law etc. — and cast historically low unemployment and declining rates of inflation as evidence that his policies are working.
The speech was decidedly light on cultural issues (the Supreme Court’s ruling outlawing abortion got barely a mention) and, until the tail end of the speech, Biden dedicated very little time to foreign policy. (And, no, he never mentioned — at least by name — the Chinese balloon!)
The message is clear: Biden and his team expect 2024 to be a referendum on the state of the economy — and he is starting to make his argument now.
The Social Security-Medicare thing. The most viral moment of the night was when Biden and Republican Members of Congress went back and forth over his insistence that some in their conference wanted to cut Social Security and Medicare.
BIDEN: Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset. I'm not saying it's a majority of you. GOP: *Booing* BIDEN: Anybody who doubts it, contact my office. MTG: Liar! BIDEN: ...I enjoy conversion.There were boos and even McCarthy, who was clearly trying his best to be restrained while sitting directly behind Biden, shook his head “no” vigorously.
Biden, going off script, called out the dissenters — saying that their unhappiness must mean that they opposed any cuts to Medicare and Social Security. To which there was loud applause throughout the chamber.
How does this episode play? Democrats were all over Twitter insisting that it had been a brilliant bit of rhetorical jujitsu by Biden in which he effectively locked Republicans into opposing any cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
Republicans insisted — just as vociferously — that Biden was playing politics, and that the American people would see through it.
I’d be careful reading too much into either viewpoint. The average Americans isn’t watching this speech — or even reading what was said in it.
Marjorie Taylor Greene: The Georgia Congresswoman has a remarkable gift — she can make herself the center of ANY story.
As soon as Biden suggested that some within the Republican party want to sunset Medicare and Social Security — Rick Scott, I am looking at you — MTG shouted “liar” at the president.
She continued heckling the president throughout the remainder of the speech — even as McCarthy could be seen visibly shushing members who were shouting at Biden. (McCarthy had, hours earlier, urged no shenanigans from his members — telling them to be respectful and serious. Whoops!)
My read on MTG’s behavior? It reeked of a tryout to be Trump’s VP — a position she is apparently interested in. Either that or she just can’t help herself.
George Santos: Speaking of a politician who likes to make everything about him…
The, um, embattled freshman Republican from New York was all the talk of the pre-SOTU coverage as he placed himself on the aisle of the House chamber — the spot usually reserved for Members angling to get a handshake from the president.
It was not to be.
But, Santos still managed to make some of the biggest news of the night — thanks to a heated exchange with, wait for it, Sen. Mitt Romney. (Had I been forced to choose a Member of Congress who would have confronted Santos, Romney would have been in the last 50 of my guesses.)
Romney apparently told Santos that he didn’t belong “here” to which Santos replied: “You’re an asshole.” Later, he tweeted:
Hey @MittRomney just a reminder that you will NEVER be PRESIDENT! https://t.co/ANxiQPxAuaDonald J. Trump will be the 47th POTUS.
George Santos @Santos4CongressOh, and also this:
Like it or not, MTG and George Santos (and the feckless Kevin McCarthy) are now the faces of today's House GOP. Not exactly a "murderers row" of great legislators, IMHO.............
Your comment that most Americans were not even listening to the SOTU is an accurate description of how this speech affects the population. All these politicians say they have their finger on the pulse of the American people is one of the most offensive things they have come up with. All these politicians say they are doing this and that to make life better for all of us is really BS. If that were true they would actually start working on real legislation and not these incredibly weak oversight investigations on topics that are already being worked on while real offenses from the last admin go unheeded. I won't even start on the SHS rebuttal tripe she dished out.