WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will use his State of the Union address Thursday to promote his vision for a second term to a discouraged electorate questioning whether he is up to the task, and to warn that Republican front-runner Donald Trump is a dangerous alternative would be.
Biden’s third speech from the House podium will be a job interview of sorts, as the nation’s oldest president seeks to assuage voters’ concerns about his age and job performance while sharpening the contrast with his all-but-certain 2024 rival .
The president hopes to highlight his achievements in infrastructure and manufacturing, but also to push for action on aid to Ukraine, stricter migration rules, restoring access to abortion and lowering the prices of medications, among other issues. But as he does so, the 81-year-old president will be closely watched, not just for his message, but for whether he can deliver it with power and authority.
The president will also try to make this State of the Union, with all its pomp and circumstance, a more intimate moment. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden sees the speech as a “continuation of conversations” he has had with Americans as he travels around the country.
“It’s built on those conversations, that experience that he has,” she said Wednesday.
Biden worked on the speech last weekend in the seclusion of the presidential retreat at Camp David, along with his close aides and presidential historian Jon Meacham. He was expected to continue refining it until the day of his speech, Jean-Pierre said.
The president will speak before a historically ineffective Congress. In the Republican Party-led House of Representatives, Speaker Mike Johnson took power five months ago following the chaotic impeachment of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Lawmakers are still struggling to pass funding bills for the current year and have been at an impasse for months over foreign aid bills to help Ukraine stave off Russia’s invasion and support Israel’s fight against Hamas.
The State of the Union address is an important night on the White House calendar, offering presidents a direct line to a captivated audience of lawmakers and dignitaries in the House chamber and tens of millions of viewers at home. Yet the evening has lost some of its luster as the number of viewers has declined.
“You always hear people say, ‘Oh, the speech has completely lost its relevance. Just send a PDF of it. It should be a video.” That’s just such nonsense,” said Michael Waldman, a speechwriter in the Clinton White House. “…It may not be as big as Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl, but it’s a big audience for a political speech.”
Biden aides in the White House and during his campaign are hoping for some new viral moments — like when he grappled with fractious Republicans last year and rebuked them for past attempts to cut health care and Social Security.
Johnson, eager to avoid a similar episode this year, urged Republicans at a private meeting Wednesday to show “decorum” during the speech, according to a person familiar with his comments to lawmakers.
Biden goes into the speech with work he needs to do to strengthen his position. Only 38% of American adults approve of the way he is handling his job as president, while 61% disapprove, according to a recent survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The same survey found that more than six-in-ten (63%) say they have little or no confidence in Biden’s mental ability to serve effectively as president. A similar but slightly smaller share (57%) say Trump lacks the memory and acumen for the job.
The already intensive investigation into Biden’s age was intensified when special counsel Robert Hur raised questions about the president’s mental acuity in his report last month on Biden’s handling of classified information.
Jim Messina, President Barack Obama’s former 2012 campaign manager, said Thursday’s speech offers Biden an important opportunity to address voters’ concerns.
“The more people see him doing his job, the better,” Messina said. “And the more people see him as president of the United States, the better off we will be.”
With Hur set to testify before lawmakers on Tuesday about his investigation, Messina said, Biden’s speech could serve as a “bias” for the special counsel’s appearance.
Biden is expected to portray an optimistic future for the country as the massive pieces of legislation he signed during his first two years in office are implemented. But he also planned to warn that the progress he sees at home and abroad is fragile — and particularly vulnerable if Trump returns to the White House.
Republicans, on the other hand, describe the current state of the union with dark, menacing terms — such as “crisis” and “catastrophe” — that echo the somber tones Trump has sounded during his campaign.
“America is in decline, nothing he says tomorrow night will change that,” Johnson said on Wednesday.
This year, Biden could also face protests and heightened emotions — especially among his base supporters — over his staunch support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. The White House had initially hoped that the speech would bring about a short-lived ceasefire. It accuses Hamas of not yet accepting an agreement brokered by the US and its allies.
The president will also make a strong appeal to lawmakers to approve much-needed defense assistance to Ukraine. An acute ammunition shortage has allowed Russia to resume the offensive in the two-year-old war.
The Republican Party-controlled House has refused to act on a Senate-passed version of the relief legislation and pushed for new tougher measures to limit migration at the US-Mexico border, after Trump used his influence to to create a bipartisan compromise that would have done just that. exactly that.
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said he expected Biden to “kick Republicans in the teeth” for rejecting the border security deal.
“Voters want a candidate who cares about the border, but they also want a candidate who is going to do something about it, not just complain about it,” he said.
Access to abortion and fertility treatments is also expected to be a key part of Biden’s speech, especially in light of a controversial Alabama Supreme Court ruling that has disrupted access to in vitro fertilization treatments in the state.
One of first lady Jill Biden’s guests for the speech will be Kate Cox, who sued Texas and ultimately left her home state to obtain an emergency abortion after a serious fetal abnormality was discovered.
The White House also invited labor leaders, a gun control advocate and others who met Jill Biden and her husband as they traveled the country to promote his agenda. Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will also be present to celebrate his country’s accession to NATO, in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Discussing the State of the Union, Biden also raised the problems of “shrinkflation” — companies putting fewer pretzels in the jar and less yogurt in sealed cups — and so-called “junk fees” on services. Neither is a major driver of inflation, but the White House hopes to show consumers that Biden is fighting for them.
Biden would also unveil a sweeping plan to raise corporate taxes and use the proceeds to reduce budget deficits and cut taxes on the middle class.
After the speech, Biden was set for a weekend of campaign travel, with events in Pennsylvania on Friday and Georgia on Saturday. Trump will also campaign in Georgia that day. The President’s Office will also spread across the country to amplify his message.
The Biden campaign said more than 200 viewing parties would take place across the country, including in cities, suburbs and rural towns in battleground states. Campaign officials will use the events to recruit volunteers and encourage others to get involved in Biden’s reelection efforts.
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AP writers Stephen Groves, Josh Boak, Amanda Seitz and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.