A fiery President Joe Biden took on his general election foe, the Supreme Court, congressional Republicans and others he faulted for threatening democracy and freedoms at home and abroad, delivering an unusually political and aggressive State of the Union speech Thursday night to a boisterous House chamber.
In his last such national address before voters decide whether to give him a second term, Biden came out swinging, casting the moment as a pivotal point in American democracy. And in castigating the words and deeds of “my predecessor,” without mentioning Donald Trump’s name, Biden was mercilessly blunt.
My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about Jan. 6. I will not do that. This is the moment to speak the truth,” Biden said inside the very chamber that was attacked that 2021 day.
“Here’s the simple truth: You can’t love your country only when you win,” Biden said, drawing loud cheers from the Democratic side of the chamber.
Expanding the freedom theme to domestic policy, Biden railed against the undoing of Roe v. Wade, mentioning the women he said have been victimized by new bans and restrictions on abortion. In a startling, confrontational move, Biden looked directly at the Supreme Court justices seated stone-faced in the front row to deliver his condemnation of the 2022 ruling removing the guaranteed right to an abortion.
“With all due respect, justices, women are not without electoral or political power. You’re about to realize just how much,” Biden said. To Republicans intent on enacting a national ban on abortion, Biden said, “My God, what freedom else will you take away?”
The president recalled the words of a president beloved by his Republican Party – Ronald Reagan – urging former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” Trump, Biden noted, is taking the opposite approach to a Russian dictator who invaded Ukraine more than two years ago.
“Now my predecessor, a former Republican president, tells Putin, ‘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, dangerous, and it’s unacceptable,” Biden said.
“We have to stand up to Putin,” Biden said. “We will not walk away” from Ukraine. We will not bow down. I will not bow down.”
If Republicans had hoped to see a quiet, tired-looking Biden, feeding the image of a doddering, elderly man unable to serve a second term, they didn’t get it Thursday night.
Biden was ablaze in his rhetoric and delivery – to the point where critics on social media asked why he was yelling so much. His prepared speech included 81 exclamation points.
And the president addressed his own age in the speech, a recognition of polls showing that even many Democrats worry he is too old to do the job.
“In my career, I’ve been told I’m too young and I’m too old,” said Biden, who barely made the age minimum to be sworn in as senator his first term. “Whether young or old, I’ve always known what endures.”
“My fellow Americans, the issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are. It’s how old our ideas are,” Biden added, ticking off protecting democracy, ensuring abortion rights and boosting the middle class.–Reuters
