Democrats hope Biden can keep up election attack
Looking for lift after State of the Union address
The annual State of the Union address is always a big moment in the political life of the country, but rarely one that lasts for more than a moment. For President Biden, the challenge ahead will be to turn a high point of his presidency into a sustainable reelection campaign strategy.
Much will depend on Biden himself. His path to reelection against former president Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, will require a combination of style, substance, and stamina. One big speech alone cannot erase the questions that have surrounded Biden’s candidacy, whether about his age or his capacity to deal with nagging issues facing the country. At a time when worries were particularly acute among nervous Democrats, Biden forcefully allayed them Thursday night. But for how long?
Never has a State of the Union been so obviously seen by a president as a campaign event rather than a report to the nation. That rankled Republicans and no doubt some traditionalists. Biden wasn’t worrying about either.
Anticipating a circus atmosphere in the House chamber, which is now the custom, the president milked the setting from the moment he was announced onto the floor until he finally left as the lights were being turned down and the chamber was nearly empty. He turned his walk down the aisle into a lingering rope-line moment, showing that he was eager to engage with anyone with an outstretched hand or a thought to share, except that of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, in a MAGA (Make America Great Again) hat.
So charged was Biden that when he finally got to the podium, he blew past the traditional introduction that should have been given by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana — and more applause that would have come with it. Instead of waiting, he plunged directly into a series of contrasts with Trump — or “my predecessor,” as he called him throughout the night.
The opening moments focused on aid to Ukraine, the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, a defense of democracy, and support for abortion rights. Those contrasts will have to be echoed repeatedly in the months ahead by him and surrogates for Biden to win. His differences with Trump, and threats to the country’s future that Biden says Trump poses, are at the core of what Biden needs to do to assure that November’s election becomes a choice and not a referendum on him and his presidency.
Recent polling has shown that a considerable part of the electorate is unfamiliar with some of the most outrageous things Trump has said in recent months. That suggests that the current assessment of the state of play in the election — with many giving Trump an advantage — may be premature. There is a campaign to be waged and now that it is engaged, Biden will be asked by his supporters to take what he did Thursday night and replicate it week after week, until the contrasts and the choice are seared into the minds of voters who have yet to fully check in.
Biden knew that his first order of business — in the week in which the primary season effectively ended and the general election began — would be to rally his base. After former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley ended her candidacy for the Republican nomination, there was much talk about the Biden team’s desire and need to try to attract her voters.
They were not his principal focus Thursday. Given the choice of playing to his base or reaching out to wavering voters disaffected by Trump, the president took the first course, wisely in the estimation even of some Republican strategists. Both in style and substance, Biden tried to send messages to all parts of his fractured base.
Democrats have worried about whether Biden had the fire and sharpness needed to wage what will be a brutal and negative campaign against Trump. They also, like a majority of Americans overall, have had questions about whether his age is enough of a liability to cost him a second term.
Republican strategists offered both praise and caution for Biden as they looked ahead. Republican pollster Neil Newhouse said Biden showed energy and a readiness to engage.