What They Said: Reactions to President Biden’s State of the Union Speech

I waited until this morning to watch the President’s address to Congress on YouTube.

The nuts and bolts of what the man at the podium would say were sufficiently leaked so I knew he wasn’t going to do anything extraordinary in terms of new policy proposals. And he didn’t. He was Steady-Eddie Joe Biden, the guy who is consistent about working hard at his job..

What I didn’t expect was more than an hour of vigorous contrasts between his vision going forward and the revenge-laden agenda of the Trumpublican party. Make no mistake, the kids in the back of the room knew he was asserting his moral authority.

I remember Republicans similarly calling former president Obama “angry” a few years back. Somehow that word doesn’t get used when their guy intentionally makes his audience angry.

So, yeah, President Biden did raise his voice, and if you bought into his premise about the threats this nation is currently facing, you’d be making noises, too.

It wasn’t a perfect speech as far as policy goes, and what I think was intended to be ironic with the use of the word “illegal” fell flat at a minimum. It was like a white guy at a civil rights rally using the N word as part of a speech attacking segregation.. 

President Biden’s vigorous tone and his willingness to spar with Republicans in the house should have addressed any questions about his age. Best of all, it hit the nay-sayers where it hurts. 

I surfed through social media this morning and discovered that the GOP rebuttal speech, given by Mississippi Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, was the low point of the evening. The joke de jour was a clip of street fighting captioned that it represented what was going on with Saturday Night Live’s writers trying to get their scripts approved for this week’s cold open.

Frankly, the tone was so harsh coming from so many wags that it felt like commentary on her laughable emoting was being used by misogynists to tear her personally down for choices no doubt made by a room full of white male consultants.. 

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Full Transcript: Read President Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the Union Address via Time Magazine

Full YouTube video of the SOTU:

Here’s the Biden Campaign’s post-SOTU ad.

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Below are some selected responses to President Biden’s State of the Union speech on March 7, 2024.

The Smart Political Strategy Behind Biden's Big Speech by Dan Pfeiffer at Message Box

• Last night was a very good night for Joe Biden. The President delivered a vigorous, pugilistic speech with the highest possible stakes for his presidency. He was strong and in command. Most importantly, he made his best case yet for reelection…

• …Democrats are very excited by the President’s performance. According to Politico Playbook, the Biden campaign had the two best fundraising hours of the cycle during the speech.

• There is a long time between now and when people start voting in October. There is much work to do, but last night was a helluva start. Instead of relitigating the past, the President framed the election as a choice between two very different visions.

Here’s Jonathan Lemire at Politico with an excerpt from Biden chooses a hammer over an olive branch

• Coming eight months before voters go to the polls, the address saw Biden defend the nation’s democracy against extremist forces and repeatedly attack Trump, the criminally indicted presidential front-runner.

• Biden delivered a vigorous and rapid speech for 67 minutes at high volume. He had some stumbles but also delighted his staff with the way he jostled with Republicans. He painted himself as an experienced, steady hand, even if he was getting long in the tooth.

• “Now some other people my age see a different story,” said Biden, who referred to his “predecessor” 13 times. “An American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me.”

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Speaking of revenge, Jacob Shamisian reports at Business Insider that Donald Trump's lawyers are  "are hunting for the identity of secret consultants who approved Pulitzer prizes for Russiagate coverage," 

Oh, and this, which I copied and forget to get the link:

• “Every reporter who described Crooked Joe Biden as ‘fiery’ in his State of the Union speech is completely in the tank for the Democrats,” Trump spokesperson Jason Miller wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “He was ‘crazed.’ Biden was extremely partisan, bitter, unhinged, yelling, arguing with those in attendance, and unable to walk or talk properly. You know who you are!”

• And in his final assessment of the night, Trump wrote: “That may be the Angriest, Least Compassionate, and Worst State of the Union Speech ever made. It was an Embarrassment to our Country!”

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The Two Americas of the State of the Union by Jill Filipovic 

• The Biden who spoke on Thursday was no Sleepy Joe. He was dynamic, funny (often bitingly so), and determined. He smacked down Republican hecklers, and laughed at the GOP’s stunning hypocrisies. It was a great speech, and it’s very clear that Republicans are regretting setting the bar so slow. Now, they’re complaining that Biden was too animated — he raised his voice, he wasn’t unifying enough. It’s honestly all delicious to watch.

• What struck me most about Biden’s State of the Union, though, was how it contrasted with the GOP response, which was given by Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama. Britt is a young “rising star” in the Republican Party, a designation she seems to have earned by virtue of being under 60, female, and not obviously insane. Or at least, that was the case before Thursday. There is so much to say about Britt’s bizarre and frankly creepy speech, but the most salient point is this: Joe Biden set out a popular, common-sense agenda for women’s rights, one that positions women as masters of our own fates and decision-makers in our own lives. Katie Britt and her Republican Party painted a very different future for women: Afraid, valued only for being mothers, and in the kitchen.

At Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American she gave a point by point recounting of President Biden’s speech:

• “[T]he issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are, it’s how old our ideas are,” Biden said. “Hate, anger, revenge, retribution are among the oldest of ideas, but you can’t lead America with…ideas that only take us back. To lead America, the land of possibilities, you need a vision for the future of what America can and should be…. I see a future where we defend democracy, not diminish it. I see a future where we restore the right to choose and protect other freedoms, not take them away. I see a future where the middle class finally has a fair shot and the wealthy finally have to pay their fair share in taxes. I see a future where we save the planet from the climate crisis and our country from gun violence. Above all, I see a future for all Americans…. So let’s build that future together.” 

• Biden spoke powerfully for an hour and a half, veering off script to make points stronger or respond to Republican heckling. He seemed to enjoy the scrapping (and might even have set it up), using the back and forth to get Republicans to reject tax cuts just as last year he forced them to reject cutting Social Security.

Paul Blumenthal and Daniel Marans did the heavy lifting at Huffpo with How Biden Put Republicans On Defense, And 4 Other Takeaways From The 2024 SOTU

• Presidents have historically shied away from such political displays during past State of the Union addresses, but this moment is different. No president has faced his predecessor in a re-election match since 1892, before the State of the Union was delivered in person.

• “Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today,” Biden said Thursday. “What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time.”

• Biden went on to deliver what sounded more like a convention acceptance speech than a State of the Union. There was the usual laundry list of policy proposals and shout-outs to visitors emblematic of an important administration policy or party faction. But what stood out in this speech was how it laid out the stakes for the election — how, to Biden, Trump is as much a foe of the United States of America as any foreign adversary.

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Andrea Guerrero of Alliance San Diego didn’t like some of what she heard

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The New York Times coverage included a survey of pundits. In a tip of the hat to modern day NYT reporting, I’m including “both sides.”

• Sean Hannity, host: “He spent most of the night shouting, speeding through his speech, and clearly overcompensating from the normal everyday Joe who can barely string two sentences together. … Tonight, America saw, let’s say, a very different Joe Biden. I might call him ‘Jacked-Up Joe.’ ”

• Joy-Ann Reid, host: “I thought the speech was very ‘high caffeine.’ I think Joe Biden woke up this morning, had a cup of coffee, and had his Wheaties. He was definitely there to fight.”

I’ll end with a quote from Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance in SOTU: Let Biden be Biden

• Tonight, Biden led the charge and took the fight directly to Trump. His relish at responding to Republicans was evident. He repeatedly got the best of their outbreaks, which finally stopped altogether, as though they realized they could not best Biden.

• Biden made jokes about his age, showing an utter lack of defensiveness. He pointed to the benefits of living through and understanding history. He explained that things became clearer at his age, saying, “My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy.” He spoke of honesty, decency, and respect for everyone. And in a jab at Trump he said, “Other people my age see it differently.” MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell commented after the speech, “I’ve never brought that much energy to the 10 pm hour.” O’Donnell hosts The Last Word during the 10 pm hour. Biden’s performance tonight should calm many of the concerns Democrats had about the incumbent’s ability to deliver during the campaign.

• There’s a saying about the President: Let Biden be Biden. The State of the Union address proved how true it is. This was a solid, even epic speech. Biden hit all the right points in the right way. Now it’s up to us, the voters, to carry it home.