State Of The Union Speeches

State of the Union: Biden faces high-stakes address to calm Democrat nerves
6 hours ago
By Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America correspondent

President Joe Biden will try to use the speech to combat worries the American public has about his age

President Joe Biden will deliver a high-stakes address to the American public on Thursday evening, as the 81-year-old seeks to tackle concerns about his age, put a positive gloss on his first-term record and lay out the case for his re-election in November.

The State of the Union address will give him a rare opportunity to speak to a national audience of millions, and draw a contrast with his Republican competitor, former President Donald Trump.

Traditionally these annual speeches to Congress are standard affairs, full of pageantry and laundry lists of legislative priorities. But this year, questions about Mr Biden's fitness for office and polls that suggest an extremely tight race for the presidency, mean the address is a critical moment for the president.

"This speech is particularly important to rally Democrats and calm their nerves," said Michael Waldman, who served as speechwriting director for President Bill Clinton. "He needs to show that he's vigorous and in command and a happy warrior."

Mr Biden's approval ratings are some of the lowest recorded for a president seeking re-election, and other surveys highlight the discomfort Americans across the political spectrum feel about giving him another four-years as the commander-in-chief.

Appearing to be a "happy warrior" while also fighting for your political life is not exactly an easy task - even when politicians are at the top of their game.

The eye test

Mr Biden has decades of experience delivering in high-stakes political moments, and he likely spent all weekend practicing his speech's delivery.

But this turn on the national stage could prove crucial, as the president must appear competent and comfortable while speaking to Congress - and avoid any missteps that feed the damaging political narrative surrounding his seniority.

Questions about the president's age have been simmering for months, but they were supercharged by special counsel Robert Hur's investigation of Mr Biden's handling of classified documents.

Within a searing 345-page report published last month, Mr Hur characterised the president as a "well meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" - a turn of phrase that has taken off among his critics.

The president - who has suffered from a stutter since boyhood - well knows that every cough, stammer and stumble will be put under the microscope, so he must be aware of how he looks and acts during Thursday night's address.

According to Robert Schlesinger, author of White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters, the president would benefit from landing a few notable moments that appear unscripted - sound bites that make him seem nimble and quick-witted, even if such moments are gamed out well in advance. This is something Mr Biden accomplished in last year's address.

"If he can get up there and seem feisty and not completely tied to his text, then it's an opportunity to convince the American people that the narrative about his age is not based in reality," he said.

A record to defend

By standard metrics, Mr Biden has a substantive record of legislative accomplishment in his first three years in office. Covid aid, gun-control legislation, infrastructure and technology investment and a raft of policies aimed at tackling climate change top the list.

Mr Biden's task is to remind voters of these programmes, and - perhaps most importantly - make it clear how these policies have benefited them.

Particularly key will be convincing Americans that the US economy is better off than most think, and that Mr Biden deserves credit for its marked improvements during his presidency.

While he can boast about low unemployment, a growing stock market and an expanding economy, he will have to account for the inflation that has ravaged American household finances. It remains a powerful criticism of his time in office, and fuels most voters' perception of the economy's health.

Another formidable challenge facing Mr Biden is the surge in undocumented migrants at the US-Mexico border, which has become an area of glaring weakness for his campaign.

The president is sure to point to the bipartisan immigration reform legislation that Republicans derailed, but it may not be enough to fully inoculate himself from Mr Trump's attacks and the belief of many voters that the White House has lost control of the border.

Mr Trump has once again made immigration a centrepiece of his campaign.

"Democrats can't really win the immigration issue, but they can try to fight to a draw," Mr Waldman said.

A contest of contrasts

A Biden campaign memo declared on Wednesday that the State of the Union address would present a "stark choice" the American people will have to make between Mr Biden's leadership and Mr Trump's "failed record and dark vision for this country".

Mr Biden is in a slightly different position than past presidents at the start of a re-election year. He knows exactly who his opponent in November will be, so he can craft his speech around Mr Trump, his predecessor's political weaknesses and presidential record.

Even if Mr Biden does not mention Mr Trump by name, he will seek to draw contrasts on areas of perceived strength, such as abortion rights, gun control and expanded healthcare - topics that put many Republicans on the opposite side of popular opinion.

His campaign has also hinted that "preserving democracy" will serve as a core theme of his address.

Mr Schlesinger says the president could weave a classic "Are you better now than you were four years ago?" theme throughout his speech, touching on the Covid pandemic and the national economic and social upheaval in the last year of the Trump administration.

A foreign policy morass
Issues of foreign policy are usually an afterthought in State of the Union addresses, and Mr Biden assured voters when he campaigned for president in 2020 that his foreign policy experience would bring stability to the world stage after a tumultuous Trump administration.

It hasn't turned out that way.

After a chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan that dented perceptions of Mr Biden's international competence, Russia invaded Ukraine and the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas sparked a new war in Gaza - heightening regional instability.

Mr Biden enters this presidential campaign with a country split on providing Ukraine and Israel with US aid, and both conflicts are on the verge of spinning out of his control.

Republicans in the House of Representatives have blocked a vote for tens of billions of dollars in additional Ukraine military support for months now. Meanwhile, Mr Biden's Democratic coalition has been fractured by his vocal support for Israel and its military campaign.

To avoid these issues becoming a political liability over the coming months Mr Biden may use his speech to try and argue that he managed to take a bad global situation and kept it from getting much worse.

These Are the Guests for the 2024 State of the Union Address
Time | NIK POPLI
March 7, 2024 at 8:55 AM

Families of the American hostages being held in Gaza. A doctor who came under attack for providing an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim. The first person born via in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

These are some of the people who will attend President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday night as guests of congressional lawmakers and the White House.

Guests are important aspects of the messaging strategy for their hosts, and the First Lady's guest list offers a preview of the themes and issues that will take center stage in the President's address. Based on the First Lady’s guests, some themes expected to feature prominently in Biden’s speech are women's reproductive rights, student loan forgiveness, the Israel-Hamas war, healthcare costs, and other domestic policy issues.

“Each of these individuals were invited by the White House because they personify issues or themes to be addressed by the president in his speech, or they embody the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies at work for the American people,” First Lady Jill Biden’s office said in a statement.

Here are some of the notable guests who will be in attendance.

Abortion and IVF

Kate Cox, who was denied an abortion in Texas despite doctors arguing that the pregnancy put her health at risk, will be a guest of the First Lady.

Latorya Beasley, whose IVF treatments were abruptly halted due to a court ruling in Alabama, is being hosted by the First Lady.

Kayla Smith, who traveled from Idaho to Washington state to get an abortion due to Idaho’s restrictive abortion laws after learning that the fetus she was carrying had inoperable heart defects, will be a guest of Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the Senate’s president pro tempore.

Amanda Zurawski, who was denied an abortion in Texas due to state law despite her being at risk for a life-threatening condition, was invited by Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark, the House Minority Whip. Zurawski received care only after going into septic shock, leaving her with permanent physical damage.

Caitlin Bernard, the doctor who came under fire for performing an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim in 2022, was invited as a guest of Rep. Judy Chu, a California Democrat.

Tammi Kromenaker, the director of Red River Women’s Clinic, which was the only abortion provider in North Dakota before relocating to Minnesota to avoid a state ban, was invited by Democratic Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith.

Elizabeth Carr, who became the first baby in the U.S. born via IVF in 1981, will attend as a guest of Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat.

Foreign affairs

Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, the parents of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained by Russia since last March on espionage charges that he and the U.S. denies, will be attending as guests of House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican.

Seventeen relatives of American hostages who were taken by Hamas last year will be attending as guests of lawmakers in both parties. Among the guests are Orna and Daniel Neutra, the mother and brother of Omer Neutra, an American hostage held since the Oct. 7 attack in Israel, who were invited by the House Speaker and New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler. Andrea Weinstein, the sister of American hostages Judy Weinstein Haggai and Gad Haggai who were both killed by Hamas, will be a guest of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat.

Intimaa Salama, a Palestinian master’s student at St. Louis University who has lost dozens of family members in Gaza, will be attending as a guest of Rep. Cori Bush, a Missouri Democrat who has called for an immediate ceasefire. Bush’s office said that 35 members of Salama’s family were killed in the ongoing war in Gaza.

Commander Shelby Nikitin, recognized for her leadership in protecting ships from Houthi rebel attacks in Yemen, was invited by the White House.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who led Sweden in its campaign to join NATO and handed over documentation to make the move official on Thursday, was invited by the White House.

Domestic policy

Jazmin Cazares, a gun-control advocate whose nine-year-old sister Jackie was killed in the 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, will be a guest of the First Lady.

Shawn Fain, the head of United Automobile Workers (UAW) who endorsed Biden after he became the first president to join a picket line, will attend as a guest of the First Lady.

NYPD officer Zunxu Tian and Lt. Ben Kurian, who were attacked by migrants residing at a shelter near Times Square in January, will attend as guests of the House Speaker and New York Republican Reps. Nicole Malliotakis and Anthony D’Esposito.

Bettie Mae Fikes, a civil rights advocate who marched in Selma, Ala., on Bloody Sunday in 1965, will be a guest of the First Lady; the State of the Union address coincides with the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

Kameryn Pupunu, a Hawaiian police officer whose Lahaina hometown was devastated by the August wildfires, including four of his immediate family members, will be a guest of the First Lady.

Rapper Fat Joe, who met with lawmakers last year to advocate for healthcare price transparency, will be a guest of Rep. Nanette Barragán, a California Democrat.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, whose federation represents 60 affiliate unions and 12.5 million people, was invited by Congressional Labor Caucus Co-Chair Mark Pocan, a Wisconsin Democrat.

Brandon Budlong, a Border Patrol agent and president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2724, will be a guest of New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, will be attending as a guest of New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat to highlight Women’s History Month and state partnerships with the federal government. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, will also be in attendance as a guest of Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty to highlight his disapproval of Biden's border policies.

Gabriel Shipton, the brother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, will attend as a guest of Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican. Assange has been indicted in the U.S. on espionage charges.

Key takeaways from Biden's fiery State of the Union speech
Biden capitalized on the pomp and circumstance of the annual event to frame his coming clash with Donald Trump.
Andrew Romano· Yahoo News National Correspondent
Updated Thu, March 7, 2024 at 10:50 PM MST

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

State of the Union: Biden concludes address riffing on age, calling for unityScroll back up to restore default view.
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.

State of the Union: What the world made of Biden's big speech
BBC

Foreign policy figured highly in Joe Biden's annual address to Congress, which highlighted US involvement in conflicts around the world. So how was his speech received in those places?

It was notable that the president chose to begin his State of the Union by discussing Ukraine. He later went on to spend a few minutes on the Israel-Hamas war and finished by talking about "standing up" to China.

We asked three BBC correspondents to analyse his comments in each area.

Nazi comparison will annoy Putin
By Sarah Rainsford, Eastern Europe correspondent

A year before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, President Biden agreed with an interviewer that Vladimir Putin was a "killer", enraging the Kremlin. Three years later, Mr Biden has now compared him to Adolf Hitler.

In his State of the Union address, he referred to Hitler being "on the march" in 1941 in Europe and then said that the Russian leader was "on the march" himself, warning that Russian aggression would not stop at Ukraine.

Biden draws election battle lines in fiery speech

'We know what's coming': East Ukraine braces for Russian advance

His message to President Putin, he said in his speech, was simple. "We will not bow down."

The Russian leader has claimed, falsely, that his invasion of Ukraine is aimed at "de-Nazifying" Russia's neighbour and he has elevated the Soviet Union's defeat of Hitler in World War II to near-cult status. So Moscow won't like this comparison at all.

But Mr Biden wasn't addressing Russia alone. He stressed the urgent need for the US to continue supporting Ukraine as it battles to defend itself and he called on Congress to unblock the bill that would release the funding Kyiv needs.

I've heard politicians and analysts in Ukraine describe losing US financial backing as "catastrophic". The delay is already damaging, forcing soldiers to ration ammunition on the frontlines.

As Moscow smarts at the comparison with Nazi Germany, Ukraine will welcome a State of the Union speech that opened with a rallying cry for democracy and support for Kyiv. President Biden said the US wouldn't "walk away".

Such words are important and appreciated. But similar calls have been uttered before and all the time Ukraine is losing more territory and more soldiers.

Unease in China as Biden talks tough
By Laura Bicker, China correspondent

It's hard to know which candidate China would prefer as it watches the discord on display in Washington during the State of the Union.

The contrast with its own rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress, is stark. Nearly 3,000 delegates are meeting in
Beijing this week in the Great Hall of the People where speeches are watched with quiet nods, a reverent hush and unwavering approval from the Communist Party elite.

There will be a level of unease from China's business sector that President Biden sees the need to show how tough he will be on Beijing. He said he wanted "competition - not conflict" with China, but business leaders may ask what form that competition will take.

He has already expanded sanctions against China on a range of issues, from human rights abuses to its relations with Russia.

Relations are also strained over China's behaviour in disputed areas of the South China Sea, its military intimidation of Taiwan and growing technological competition.

Beijing will not see Mr Biden's competitor as a more promising prospect. While president, Donald Trump started a trade war with China and recently threatened to impose a 60% tariff on Chinese goods if he wins in November.

But Beijing might like the idea of another Trump presidency. The Biden administration has built an alliance to counter the might of China and he has been clear that the US would defend Taiwan if China tried to take the self-governing island by force.

The Taiwan that China wants is vanishing

In contrast, Mr Trump has refused to say he would help Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory.

China can exploit these differences in Washington and use them to appear as a safer, long-term diplomatic bet for countries around the world as the two compete for global influence.

Biden's rebuke picked up in Israeli media
By Yolande Knell, Middle East correspondent

President Biden called events of the past five months "gut-wrenching" in his address.

While he blamed Hamas for starting the Gaza war, he stressed the high civilian death toll among Palestinians and had a sharp message for Israel about the need to allow basic supplies to reach the besieged territory, amid UN warnings of mass starvation.

Aid, he said, "cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority." This rebuke featured prominently in the Israeli media on Friday morning.

Driven by domestic politics in an election year - the need to show stronger American action - as well as deep humanitarian need, Mr Biden announced a plan for a new floating pier off Gaza to bring in food and basic supplies on ships via Cyprus.

In many ways, this ambitious idea - which the president was careful to say would not involve US military boots on the ground - is a measure of frustration with a key ally.

Israel officially welcomed the plan. It has stopped aid from entering via its own Mediterranean container port, Ashdod, 35km from northern Gaza, and also resisted opening more border crossings.