President Joe Biden’s yearly State of the Union speech — his first in front of a divided Congress — will offer the best glimpse to date of his argument for another term, making Tuesday’s address a test run of sorts as he approaches a reelection announcement.
President Joe Biden’s yearly State of the Union speech – his first in front of a divided Congress – will offer the best glimpse to date of his argument for another term, making Tuesday’s address a test run of sorts as he approaches a reelection announcement.
In both substance and delivery, Biden hopes to present a vigorous and optimistic portrait to the American people of his first two years in office, reminding them of his accomplishments while also demonstrating to his largest television audience of the year that he has the ability to keep serving the country until he is 86 years old.
He is certain to tick through efforts to curb inflation, improve the nation’s infrastructure and steer the country through the Covid-19 pandemic. And he’s planning to address this weekend’s shoot-down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon, part of a larger section about outcompeting Beijing that aides have been editing and refining in the days before the speech.
The speech is the culmination of a writing process under way since late last year, subject to constant edits, tweaks and additions to reflect the real-time nature of the job and issues that have captured the nation’s attention.
That includes a fresh push for urgency on long-stalled police reform after the visceral nature of videos depicting the beating death in Memphis of Tyre Nichols at the hands of police. A two-hour-long Oval Office meeting with key members of the Congressional Black Caucus last week helped shape Biden’s views and led to a new round of edits.
So, too, has the push for an assault weapons ban been made more pressing after countless mass shootings in recent months. And new evidence of an economy that continues to defy critics and economists alike has helped shape Biden’s economic message.
Yet at its core, the broad pillars of Biden’s annual address will remain as they were sketched out by top advisers Mike Donilon and Bruce Reed, with speechwriter Vinay Reddy, in the early days of January, officials told CNN.
Biden believes the accomplishments he will present Tuesday are durable and wide-ranging – and that his message on the economy and the US’ role in the world is as resonant as it is animating for his presidency.
“I want to talk to the American people and let them know the state of affairs,” Biden said Monday after he returned from two days spent holed up at Camp David with his top advisers working through his remarks. “What’s going on, what I’m looking forward to working on from this point on, what we’ve done. Just having a conversation with the American people.”
The prime time address will give Biden a springboard into the coming weeks, which will include travel to critical electoral states to tout his accomplishments and, advisers acknowledge, a reelection announcement that is all but certain at this point.
One adviser, asked what to expect in the remarks, pointed to a series of Biden speeches in the last several weeks as a roadmap to his nationwide address. “There isn’t some ‘new’ Joe Biden,” the adviser said.
