Would it be a withered old man or a human dynamo? Would it be a rambling, gaffe-prone politician or an inspiring leader touched with fire? Would it be Geriatric Joe or Dark Brandon?
Within the first few minutes of Thursday’s State of the Union address in Washington, millions of Americans had their answer. Joe Biden, 81, had brought the fight.
The US president was feisty, fired up and possibly highly caffeinated. For over 68 minutes he shouted for America, let rip at Donald Trump and found artful ways to address concerns over his age. The more that Republicans heckled him and screamed “Liar!”, the more he fed off their energy and turned it against them.
Indeed, for the second year running, Biden’s State of the Union address became more akin to Britain’s House of Commons – combative, electric, rowdy. Past American presidents could get away with reading from a teleprompter. Biden, supposedly old and sleepy, has made the event interactive and turns out to be looser with ad libs and quicker on his feet than any of them.
Rarely has the State of the Union address doubled as a medical exam before a global audience, more about stamina than statistics, more about pep-in-your-step than policy.
Biden hit the ground running with the topics likely to be his central pitch for November’s election. He accused Trump and Republicans of trying to rewrite history about the January 6 insurrection. “My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about January 6. I will not do that. You can’t love your country only when you win.”
You had us at hello. The House speaker, Mike Johnson, shook his head and rolled his eyes.
Biden also went after Trump for his comments inviting the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to invade Nato nations if they did not spend more on defence. “My predecessor, a former Republican president, tells Putin, quote, ‘Do whatever the hell you want.’ That’s a quote. A former president actually said that – bowing down to a Russian leader. I think it’s outrageous, it’s dangerous and it’s unacceptable.”
Biden tackled reproductive rights, pledging to “restore Roe v Wade as the law of the land again” if Democrats regain control of Congress. There were rousing cheers from Democrats. Biden added that anyone “bragging about overturning Roe v Wade had no clue about the power of women, but they found out reproductive freedom was on the ballot. We won in 2020 and 2022 and we’ll win again in 2024.”
Later some Republicans jeered as Biden said the bipartisan border bill would have included the “toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen”. He relished the challenge, shooting back: “Oh, you don’t like that bill, huh? That conservatives got together and said was a good bill? I’ll be darned … You’re saying no. Look at the facts. I know you know how to read.”
Drawing another contrast with Trump, Biden also commented: “I will not demonise immigrants saying they are poison in the blood of our country.” (He did, however, make a reference to “an illegal”, attracting the ire of progressives in Congress.)
Still, amid all the bantering and euphoria, there was Gaza. Biden’s motorcade took a different route from the White House to the US Capitol after protesters blocked part of Pennsylvania Avenue. Inside the House of Representatives chamber, some members wore keffiyehs, the black-and-white checkered scarves that have symbolised solidarity with Palestinians. Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush held up signs calling for a ceasefire.
Biden announced that the US military will build a port on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast to receive humanitarian assistance by sea. But he called on the Israelis to do more to alleviate the suffering even as they try to eliminate Hamas. “To Israel, I say this humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip.”
He spoke with compassion about the plight of Palestinians but did not urge a “permanent ceasefire” policy shift that demonstrators crave – that threat to his re-election remains.
Thursday’s audience included George Santos, expelled from Congress, and a man wearing Trump’s mug shot emblazoned on his shirt. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene sported a red “Make America great again” cap and a “Say her name” shirt referring to Laken Riley, a student murdered last month, allegedly by an undocumented immigrant.
Biden stumbled over a few words but on big occasions like this tends to benefit from the soft bigotry of low expectations on the age question. First elected to the Senate in 1972, he took aim at Trump again: “Now some other people my age see a different story: an American story of resentment, revenge and retribution. That’s not me.”
It was a far cry from Trump’s bleak, subdued victory speech at Mar-a-Lago on Super Tuesday. When it was over, glum Republicans bolted for the door while Democrats mobbed Biden as if he had just won the Super Bowl. “No one’s gonna call you cognitively impaired now,” Congressman Jerry Nadler told him. Biden quipped: “I kinda wish sometimes I was cognitively impaired.” Another congressman said: “You had the Irish fire tonight!” But will we love you tomorrow?
