When Joe Biden entered the House of Representatives chamber on Thursday to deliver his State of the Union address, my first thought was, “Oh my, he looks old.” By the time he was finished, I switched to, “Oh yeah, he sounds strong.”
Biden did exactly what he needed to do: demonstrate strength.
With the union so intensely divided and our democracy under siege. Biden’s SOTU challenge was to show that he still has what it takes to beat Donald Trump again, save democracy, advance women’s rights and otherwise move the country forward – no small set of tasks.
He met that challenge.
Emulating Truman
The address indicated that Biden intends to emulate Harry Truman’s 1948 underdog reelection effort, remembered in part for a supporter’s famous shout, “Give ‘em Hell, Harry!” during a Truman speech attacking Republicans.
The move suits him, both as a matter of strategy and because Biden’s down-to-earth style resembles Truman’s more than any presidential predecessor.
Constant press carping aside, doubts about Biden are not fundamentally about his age. In view of his sometimes halting gait and rhetorical flutters, they’re more about his apparent frailty. (To be clear, however, Biden retains cognitive coherence way beyond what Trump has displayed.)
That’s why the importance of the address was not about the substance of his attacks and assertions; it was about his tone and assertiveness.
He passed that test.
From Careful Broadsides to Calculated Bickering
His most powerful moments came at the outset, when he broadcast the broad themes defining his campaign: defending American democracy (against Trump) and democracy overseas (against Russia and others), as well as protecting women’s reproductive rights.
Rightly prioritizing those rights, he specifically raised the raging in vitro fertilization controversy. That debate demonstrates that anti-abortion forces are fine with terminating an embryo as long as it’s not in the womb of a woman whose life, health, well-being and freedom are at risk.
Biden welcomed and sparked feisty exchanges with Republicans in attendance, loudly and proudly showing that he can give as good as he gets. It’s hard to picture Obama or Clinton engaging in such verbal fisticuffs. But today’s politics may, sadly, call for that approach.
The speech had its Bidenesque share of stumbles and bumbles. Joe will never win any prizes for eloquence or elocution. His strengths have always been beyond the lectern, in terms of grit and perseverance. That was on display on Thursday.
Watch What We Wish For
Now, having said all that, am I glad that Biden is running for re-election? Not really. Even after his address, I wonder whether he can sustain such strength through a bitter eight-month battle. I’ll confess to some resentment over his not stepping aside; I suspect that his poor polling may partly flow from others feeling that way.
But at this stage, barring a political lightning strike, Biden is the nominee. Time to get over the resentment and stop dreaming about some delightful, hypothetical alternative.
Speaking of which: Those of us wishing for an alternative candidate should watch what we wish for. The most prominent player at this point is California Governor Gavin Newsom, who brings extensive executive experience and a strong speaking style to the table. He also has two attributes that might matter even more to many Americans: He’s tall and good-looking.
But I could see a campaign in which his flaws – or those of any other alternatives – become all too evident. Trump could successfully blast Newsom for California’s actual or alleged problems with crime, homelessness, affordable housing and population decline, as well as supposed Left Coast elitism and Golden State wackiness. He could attack Gavin’s other drawbacks, including his popularity dipping to an all-time low in the state and his dining at Napa’s ultra-chic French Laundry restaurant during the depths of Covid.
Then there’s the possibility of the Democratic Party tearing itself apart in a struggle over who would succeed Biden if he dropped out, not least because many members would favor someone other than Vice President Kamala Harris. Plus any new nominee would face the massive challenge of mounting a presidential campaign from scratch.
Benefit of the Doubt
More to the point: We’re at the point at which the concern about Biden’s electability becomes a circular, self-defeating proposition: The conviction that Biden won’t win undercuts his chances of his doing so. We can’t send ourselves down that drain. The stakes are far too high.
Let’s also bear in mind something that gets lost in the shuffle of debating electability: Joe has been quite a president, perhaps the best since FDR. His accomplishments include defeating an insurrectionist, restoring sanity to the White House, combating climate change, leading post-pandemic recovery, cutting child poverty in half, stymieing Russian aggression, expanding NATO, student debt reduction, huge infrastructure investment, prescription drug price relief and the best post-Covid economy in the industrialized world. He could add to that impressive track record if reelected.
Has he gotten everything right? Far from it. But who would? And who would even agree on what “getting everything right” entails?
Did Thursday’s speech dispel all doubts about him? Make your own call. But Joe showed me enough to merit the benefit of the doubt. He may well have what it takes to aggressively advance a positive agenda and beat the wannabe autocrat yearning to gut American democracy, assault women’s rights, coddle dictators across the globe and otherwise impose a reign of retribution and darkness.
If you’d like to review what Biden’s up against, or to laugh and cry over that reality, or to see what would be a great Biden ad, check out what Late Night’s Seth Meyers squeezes into this 99-second summary:
The world will be a better place if Joe Biden wins. His speech showed that he can do so. Those two things are all we can ask of any presidential candidate.
Give ‘em Hell, Joe.
[Hat Tip: JJ]
Agreed. I was so inspired listening to him. My favorite Christmas movie is “ It’s a Wonderful Life”. President Biden’s speech gave me the same feeling of gratitude and hope. He made me feel proud to be American.
I can only hope that there was a viewing audience that included more than registered Democrats.
When I saw the recent negative ad about President Biden aired, of him tripping up the stairs, questioning whether he would live through the next 5 years, I noted the photo of VP Harris prominently displayed. This is aimed at the Republican voters who are in the base of racism. A female woman of color is a big negative to those voters, who do not want her as President if something happened to President Biden. These are deeply rooted truths in our society.
Sadly, he could have torn off his shirt revealing a Superman costume, and flown over the audience, and not reached some of those people.
Thanks Steve.
Great Post! Yes indeed, Biden did it…and yes indeed, you captured it perfectly! Thanks
Very clear analysis, Stephen. Thank you. There is little doubt Biden will easily win the popular vote by a substantial margin. The two factors that most concern me about the outcome are:
(1) The ongoing efforts to remove Democratic-leaning voters from the rolls in swing states. By successfully preventing several thousand people from voting in those states, those states could flip to Trump. These efforts are well underway and are apparently already having some success.
(2) Third party candidates. No Labels is working to field a third-party candidate, and they are largely funded by wealthy Republicans. They are aiming to find a candidate who will peel more voters away from Biden than from Trump. Third party candidates gave Bush the presidency over Gore in 2000 and did the same for Trump over Clinton in 2016. There are also several independent candidates, separate from No Labels, who are running personal vanity campaigns, and they could also help turn the Electoral College majority over to Trump.
If the U.S. was truly a democratic republic, the candidate winning the nationwide popular majority would become president.