State of the Union: President Joe Biden offers optimism, sets the stage for 2024 re-election tilt

According to US President Joe Biden, the state of the union is strong. The 80-year-old President was optimistic, confident and enjoying delivering the State of the Union address, despite some raucous Republican jeering.

This was a speech for the domestic market – wages, work, healthcare, gun control, abortion and fair taxation; all themes covered by an animated President seeking to connect with everyday Americans.

This State of the Union provided President Biden with an important platform. It’s probably the most direct coverage he’ll have to push his achievements until, as many speculate, he announces his intent to run for a second term.

Talking it up

Biden seized the opportunity to talk up his accomplishments and set out his policy agenda for the rest of his first term. Though not as bombastic as his predecessor, Donald Trump, in talking up his political wins, Biden has some considerable policy achievements to his credit.

He opened with a light joke with the new Speaker of the House, Republican Kevin McCarthy, and gave a nod to building a working relationship with the now Republican-held House majority. It was a theme he consistently returned to.

President Biden reeled off a strong legislative record. This included the landmark Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act.

The former is geared to clean energy, innovative manufacturing technologies and improving tax revenues, the latter at generating employment, adding resilience to supply chains and pushing back on China.

Together, they add up to some US$780 billion of legislation, the largest in the history of the United States.

Moreover, recently released figures show that more than half a million jobs were added to the US economy in the past two months, while unemployment dropped to 3.4%, the lowest in more than five decades. By these metrics, the Biden administration has made some impressive gains, and he delighted in pointing them out.

Respect, just a little bit?

And yet, the continuing polarisation of Washington politics remained on show. The respect traditionally given to the Commander-in-Chief no longer seems to be evident. Biden was roundly interrupted, heckled, and loudly jeered by elements of the GOP on several occasions.

The newly minted Speaker of the House frequently looked bored and failed to quell the rancour displayed by members of his party. Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene was standing and shouting at Biden as if she were at a football match.

Scenes like this had never been witnessed in the chamber until only a decade ago, and they’re not improving. Respect is no longer en vogue in DC.

It seems some GOP politicians have found new lows in their self-conduct. There’s little doubt that this is not a hangover from the Trump era. It’s almost a certainty that some of the division from the Trump era will resurface and that the Republicans will attempt to jam Biden at every legislative turn.

Interestingly, the President seemed to relish pushing back on jeering Republicans wanting to sunset Medicare and Social Security. It was another defining moment that allowed Biden to demonstrate to the American public that he was in control, that he would not be brow-beaten by MAGA Republicans, and that he would stand up for average working Americans.

Green shoots and common ground?

President Biden, however, recognises the need for a more effective relationship between the two parties, and repeatedly offered the Republicans an olive branch to work with his administration. But it won’t be easy, especially with the 2024 election looming large.

There are many hurdles ahead for Biden and the Democrats. The first major test will be to raise the debt ceiling that determines how much Washington can borrow to pay its operating costs. Republican-majority Congresses have sought to block attempts by Democratic presidents to raise the debt ceiling, and it will probably occur again.

However, there was more common ground on foreign policy. It was inevitable that Russia and China would be mentioned, and Biden took a strong line.

He was quick to point out that under America’s leadership, NATO and much of the world had come together to stand with Ukraine against Russia’s invasion. He took a forceful tone when addressing Russia’s aggression, and it was a powerful moment when he acknowledged the presence of Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States.

He then went on to discuss China, arguing that Americans preferred cooperation over competition. But Biden was crystal-clear, in a reference to the recent Chinese spy balloon shot down off the Carolina coastline, that any threat by China to the sovereignty of the United States was unacceptable and would be met with decisive action.

It’s very likely that the Biden administration chose to leave some diplomatic wriggle-room with China in the face of the ongoing frozen relations between Beijing and Washington.

In general terms, this State of the Union was light on foreign policy, but the President made his position clear.

A second Biden term?

President Biden’s lack of substance on foreign policy and heavy focus on domestic matters leaves little doubt this was a speech geared for domestic consumption. It was his best opportunity, in front of a wide American audience, to announce policies that could set up a 2024 run.

In the recent midterm elections, a so-called “red wave”, was predicted to see the Republicans shatter the Democrats’ hold on the House. It didn’t happen. The Republicans won control of Congress by a slim margin, but the Democrats retained the majority in the Senate.

This is a sign that Trump’s brand of Republican politics hasn’t carried with it as many voters as it did in 2016. It’s something of a win for Biden that the Democrats weren’t wiped out. This kicked off the speculation that a second Biden term might happen.

It seems some GOP politicians have found new lows in their self-conduct. 

Interestingly, the Republican rebuttal to Biden’s address was delivered by former Trump press secretary, now Governor of Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. It was a strange tirade. Without once mentioning Trump’s name, she largely rehashed many of his tropes – the Democrats are liars, Biden is weak, the world is more dangerous as a result.

Perhaps tellingly for the upcoming presidential campaign, she claimed that a younger breed of Republicans had arrived to rescue Americans from the incompetent Democrats. Her message will likely appeal to a small group of Republican supporters, but it contrasts markedly with Biden’s more conciliatory approach of recognising differences but finding ways to work together for the good of the nation.

President Biden had a successful night. As a result, he may well have in mind a second term. If he does, the 2023 State of the Union provided an excellent opportunity to re-engage with the broader American public. If he does step down, he will have left an impressive legacy for a single-term president.