What got into Joe Biden?
He was articulate. He voiced policies that are popular. He talked about jobs for working people in the heartland.
He sounded young, energetic, and up to the job of president. Good.
I have been frank in saying that I think age has caught up to Joe Biden. I have written here that the single most important job of the president is to explain stuff to the American people. Biden isn't good at that. Prior to the speech Trump was sending out fundraising appeals saying "In just a few short hours, Joe Biden will deliver a gaffe-filed, mumbling speech."
Not so. Biden did well.
Biden looked in control. Speaker McCarthy maintained a look of bored disdain.
Biden was gracious from the first moment, beginning with congratulating Kevin McCarthy. Biden shook his hand warmly and said he looked forward to working with him. Biden also congratulated Mitch McConnell. In this era, those are fighting words--fighting within the GOP. Neither McCarthy nor McConnell can dare be seen by their own caucus working cooperatively with Biden. Biden was affable Mr. Good Sport. He noted that some people here opposed the infrastructure bill, but Biden said he didn't hold that against them or their red state. "I promised to be a president for all Americans, so I'll see you at the groundbreaking." Biden smiled.
Biden praised things that are widely popular, especially in working class non-college middle-America. Lower inflation. Lower gasoline prices. Unemployment at a 50-year low. A cap on insulin prices. A cap on prescription drug costs. Wage growth. Social Security. Medicare. Repairing dangerous bridges. He spoke of 12 million new jobs, a supply chain that begins in America, and bringing computer chip manufacturing back to America. Not to coastal America, to heartland America.
Republicans sat quietly throughout that, but it had to hurt a little. What is not to like about lower drug costs, wage growth, repairing bridges, and jobs in heartland America? Aren't Republicans in favor of that? Of course they are, but Republicans voted in near unity against all of those initiatives.
Biden got jeered by Republican congresspeople when he said there were people in the room who wanted to reduce Social Security and Medicare. Biden engaged them. He said that if they objected to that characterization, then, good. He would hold them to that. "So no one wants to do that [i.e. cut Social Security]? So Social Security and Medicare are off the books, right?" Biden just negotiated a GOP concession on policy, in public and in real time. Republicans were aware that comments by some of their members--including Senator Tim Scott who said it was part of the GOP "12-Point Plan to Rescue America"--are not popular.
In the current state of Democratic Party messaging, Biden was doing something unexpected. He was focusing on issues that are broadly popular. He wasn't pushing the envelope on cultural norms. Pre-written speeches, like the "Republican Response" by Sarah Huckabee Sanders presumed that Biden would champion "wokeness," environmental extremism, and communist tyranny. No.
Biden got lucky in having unsympathetic critics. He was heckled by MAGA congresspeople, most prominently by Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert. They shouted out. They led chants. It helped confirm the image of a GOP House that was uncivil and extreme.
Kevin McCarthy had a problem last night. He was stuck. He was fully aware of how bad his caucus looked. He surely wanted to shush them, yet he was constantly on camera and couldn't be seen giving a "cool it" signal. He could not dare give it. He needs their votes. McCarthy compromised by keeping a bored sneer on his face throughout. That, too, is a bad look. Biden was talking about how America could do anything if we all worked together, and McCarthy had his frozen "yeah, right" look on his face, It confirmed the idea that Republicans want Biden to lose more than they want America to succeed.
Biden looked like a competent president working with a recalcitrant GOP. Biden may interpret this good speech as validation for running for reelection. I consider that unfortunate. Democrats would be betting that once again Republicans will nominate Donald Trump. I think Trump is the one Republican Biden could defeat in an election.
"Republicans want Biden to lose more than they want America to succeed."
Amen.
I mean: Ramen.
Regarding 2024: Michelle Goldberg naled it: Biden’s a Great President. He Should Not Run Again. She wrote that before the SOTU, and she's right, though a lot of people are re-evaluating this morning.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/06/opinion/biden-shouldnt-run-2024.html