Key takeaways from Biden's fiery State of the Union speech

There are worse places for a president to introduce the themes of his final campaign than in a primetime, nationally televised speech before a joint session of Congress.

So that's precisely what President Biden did Thursday night, capitalizing on the pomp and circumstance of his annual State of the Union address — and the massive media spotlight it commands — to frame the coming general election clash with his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, as an existential struggle over reproductive rights, America’s place in the world, the future of the middle class and even the integrity of U.S. democracy itself.

“My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy,” Biden said. “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,” the president continued. “An American story of resentment, revenge and retribution. That's not me.”

Tackling the age issue

The mention of age — and of “other people” who’ve lived just as long — was pointed: Trump, 77, is only four years younger than Biden, 81.

But it’s the current president who has seen his approval rating sink to historic lows amid concerns about his vigor — and whether he has enough left in the tank to steer the country through a second term that would end a few months after his 86th birthday.

As a result, Biden’s election-year State of the Union became something more than the usual laundry list of policy proposals and patriotic applause lines. It became a high-stakes, high-profile audition for an 81-year-old man who has already devoted his entire adult life to politics — and who now wants four more years to finish the job.

Solid on style — with no distracting ‘senior moments’

After entering the House Chamber, Biden took more than eight minutes to meander to the lectern. His white hair may have looked thinner than it did the last time most Americans tuned in; his gait may have seemed stiffer.

But as soon as the president started speaking, he sounded like the same old — or not so old — Biden, familiar from his decades in the Senate and his years as Barack Obama’s second in command.

Sure there was a misplaced word or two; Biden overcame a childhood stutter and has never been the smoothest orator.

But on the whole, his delivery — and perhaps more important, his attitude — was forceful, direct and often combative.

A high-octane approach

On average, 56% of Americans disapprove of Biden’s performance in office; just 38% approve. Those numbers have barely budged for years, despite the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the passage of ambitious legislation and the steadily improving U.S. economy. Analysts have theorized that Biden’s age — the sense that he is not in charge of his own presidency — is a major reason why.

But most Americans don’t see Biden up close and personal. He doesn’t do a lot of interviews. The State of the Union is perhaps the clearest view they’ll get.

And the view they got was not the caricature of cable news commentary or rival campaign attacks. “Obamacare is still a ... very big deal,” Biden quipped, riffing on one of his most famous lines. “You guys don’t want another 2 trillion dollar tax cut?” he ad-libbed after a Republican shouted that he was lying about their tax plans. “That’s good to hear.”

“You’re saying no,” Biden responded when he was heckled again, this time over the bipartisan border bill. “Look at the facts. I know you know how to read.”

The high-octane approach was deliberate — an attempt to shatter the impression that Biden isn’t up to the job because he’s an octogenarian. The truth, he argued — both in what he said and how he said it — is the opposite.

“I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while,” Biden joked at one point. “And when you get to be my age, certain things become clearer than ever before.”

Biden wasn’t shy about mentioning his ‘predecessor’

The State of the Union address isn’t a campaign speech; it’s a presidential duty prescribed in the Constitution. Usually commanders in chief running for reelection don’t spend a lot of time on their competitors.

But Biden did, underscoring how unusual he thinks this election will be.

“Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today,” Biden said. “My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth of January 6th. I will not do that. … You can’t love your country only when you win.”

Again and again Biden returned to that phrase — “my predecessor” — to invoke the threats he believes America will face if Trump wins in November: on “bowing down to” Russia (“it’s outrageous, it’s dangerous, it’s unacceptable.”); on restricting abortion rights (“those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America”); on immigration (“I will not demonize immigrants, saying they ‘poison the blood of our country”).

“Four more years! Four more years!” Democrats in the chamber chanted at one point.

It was a nakedly political approach that risks backlash — but that has the upside, in the White House’s view, of clarifying the choice that will confront voters on Election Day.

A populist approach to the economy

The speech wasn’t short on policy; in fact, it’s difficult to think of an issue that Biden didn’t mention. There were lines about “guaranteeing the right to IVF nationwide”; about “restor[ing] Roe v. Wade as the law of the land”; about passing “a bipartisan bill with the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen in this country;” about “demanding a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”

The list goes on.

But the domestic issue that has defined Biden’s presidency so far — and will likely determine his reelection chances — is the economy.

On one side, economists are patiently explaining that joblessness is extremely low; inflation has abruptly cooled; GDP is growing at its fastest pace in years; a long-predicted recession is looking increasingly unlikely; and people (of all ages and income levels) are making, spending and accumulating more money than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

But according to recent polls, the vast majority of Americans think the U.S. economy is awful right now.

Can Biden change their minds? He tried Thursday night, citing various statistics to make the case that while he “inherited an economy that was on the brink, now our economy is the envy of the world.”

Yet a president’s power to influence such perceptions are limited, especially when prices of, say, groceries remain high. So Biden pivoted to a populist pitch about what he plans to do next: raise taxes on the very wealthy and large corporations; use the funds to support working-class families and reduce the deficit; and crack down “on corporations that engage in price gouging or deceptive pricing from food to health care to housing.”

“I grew up in a home where not a lot trickled down on my dad’s kitchen table,” Biden said. “That’s why I’m determined to turn things around so the middle class does well, the poor have a way up — and the wealthy still do well. We all do well.”

To make his point, Biden even engaged in some call-and-response theatrics.

"Folks at home, does anybody think the tax code is fair?" he asked.

"No!" Democratic lawmakers shouted back.

"Do you really think the wealthy and big corporations need another 2 trillion tax break?" he asked in reference to Trump's stated priority of cutting taxes even more.

"No!" half of his audience responded.

"I sure don't," Biden added.