The labyrinthine hallways of the Capitol were busier than usual on Thursday, with the rowdy atmosphere of great occasions. Congressmen, senators, members of the presidential Cabinet, judges of the Supreme Court, special guests – among them, the Prime Minister of Sweden, who had recently joined NATO – and a hundred journalists headed to the House of Representatives to witness the most political speech. expected of the year.
Fulfilling his constitutional obligation, President Joe Biden prepared to give his third – and perhaps last – State of the Union address. He slowly entered the Chamber supported by bipartisan applause, greeted those present and began a long and energetic intervention, lasting one hour and ten minutes, in which he gave an account of the successes of his mandate. It was the starting signal of the intense eight-month race towards the White House, two days after Super Tuesday, which confirmed who will be his rival in November: Donald Trump, who is seeking revenge after his defeat – never admitted – in 2020.
With a confrontational tone, with which he sought to give an image of vitality in the face of criticism for his old age, he drew a speech of contrasts between Trump’s “hatred” and his “honesty”, between “anger” and his “decency” , between his autarkic “predecessor”, whom he did not name even once, and him, who claims to have made the US economy “the envy of the world.”
The November 5 elections will be held in the shadow of the assault on the Capitol, when the magnate encouraged his followers to prevent Biden’s certification. “History is watching, as he watched three years ago,” he said at the beginning of his speech: “The insurrectionists stormed this Capitol and put a dagger to the throat of American democracy.”
The final stretch of his presidency is marked by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. And they also marked a large part of his speech last night. “If anyone in this room believes that Putin is going to hold back in Ukraine, I assure you that he will not,” he said, raising his voice to demand that Republican congressmen lift their blockade on aid to Kyiv.
There was no shortage of references to the border, at the center of the campaign after the Republicans blocked the immigration pact reached in the Senate, one of the most restrictive in history. “I’m told that my predecessor called Republicans in Congress and demanded that they block the law. He thinks it would be a political victory for me and a defeat for him. “It’s not about him or me: it would be a victory for America.”
Both candidates describe the immigration situation as a “crisis,” and this is how they staged it on their trip to the border last week. “Join me! “We can solve it together,” she extended her hand to him, although he put his vision before Trump’s xenophobic speech: “I will not demonize immigrants by saying that ‘they poison the blood of our country.’ I will not separate families. “I will not ban people from entering the US because of their faith.”
The speech, on which he had been working with his advisors since December, also included an announcement: the US will build a temporary port in Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to an increasingly besieged population. Under pressure from the progressive wing of his party, he sent a message to the government of Beniamin Netanyahu: “To the leaders of Israel I say the following: humanitarian aid cannot be a bargaining chip.”
In the game of contrasts that Biden drew, and in his emphasis on the constitutive “freedom” of the country, he highlighted the situation of the right to abortion, which the Supreme Court unprotected at the federal level in June 2022. Since then, it has been in the hands of the states, forcing many women to do it clandestinely in places like Florida, Alabama or Texas, or pay for transportation to another state where it is legal. Six of the nine members of the High Court – three of whom were appointed by Trump – were present in the front row and maintained a serious face throughout the speech. Also invited was Kate Cox, a woman who was denied an emergency abortion by the Texas Supreme Court.
The list of twenty invited by the White House sent a message about the president’s priorities. In attendance were the Prime Minister of Sweden, Ulf Kristersson, who sat next to the first lady, Jill Biden; Keenan Jones, a teacher who has had his student debt forgiven thanks to the government’s massive forgiveness plan; and Jazmin Cazares, whose sister died in the Uvalde shooting. The first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, had also been invited, but she did not attend citing scheduling reasons.
Thursday night’s speech was a litmus test for Biden, who has begun the election year as the most unpopular president since Harry Truman. He far surpassed her, with an eloquent speech and without lapses. But it is not clear that he will give him the boost he needs to be re-elected: he has 37.9% approval, and remains behind Trump in the polls in five of the six key states in these elections.
