Apparently President Biden is fond of the British Parliament's tradition of Question Time, because that what tonight's State of the Union address resembled. The crowd heckled him and he heckled them back—with a big grin on his face.
Biden's finest moment came about halfway through, when he baited Republicans about Social Security and Medicare. Some of you guys want to cut it, he taunted. When they rolled their eyes and yelled back, he turned it around on them and got a huge bipartisan cheer for never cutting either program. We've got unanimity, he said, with just the slightest trace of mockery in his voice.
Otherwise, the speech was fine. Biden stumbled a few times, but not in any big way. He didn't present a laundry list of stuff he wanted to accomplish, but instead bragged on all the stuff he had already gotten done. Then he'd yell out let's finish the job along with some (usually) minor asks.
So it was a modest speech, with no pretense that he was going to get much done with a Republican House in place. But it was also a friendly speech, delivered as if he was sitting in your living room with you. That probably went over pretty well.
It would go over well if people actually watched it. The people who decide the elections, the lower information voters, don't pay attention to the SOTU.
I pay attention to politics and even I purposefully avoid SOTUs.
It's an opportunity for Republicans to show what bad manners they have.
that's why i think the important thing about the SOTU is media spin, because almost no one watches it, but a lot of people hear what the TV news spin is. politics is a PR exercise, and it sounds like this one went biden's way.
Indeed and the spin is not only did Biden wisk away any thought of replacing him as the Democrats nominee in 2024, but what obnoxious jerks many in GOP have become. Heckle me again Margie!
A little polling data:
A 72% majority of Americans who watched President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address had a positive reaction to the speech, according to a CNN Poll conducted by SSRS, with a smaller 34% reacting very positively.
The biggest movement came among those who were skeptical of Biden to begin with. Among those who said in the pre-speech survey that they disapproved of the way Biden is handling his presidency, just 7% said before the speech that they thought Biden’s proposed policies would move the country in the right direction, rising to 45% post-speech. And among political independents, the share saying Biden’s policies would move the country in the right direction rose from 40% pre-speech to 66% afterwards.
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/biden-state-of-the-union-2023/h_2ba5925736eda5fb0883e61d8004793d
In the middle of the heckling, I enjoyed Biden's line that he likes having a conversation.
Now I know I misheard him. He said he enjoys "conversion". Good either way, but I liked the ironic generosity of referring to the shouts from the Republican side of the room as "conversation."
I'd vote for that guy, and so would anyone else who watched it.
Everything about Joe Biden in real life makes the social conservative imagination feel ridiculous.
"And so would anyone else who watched it"?
I disagree. This conjecture is at odds with the first one of the five basic laws of human stupidity:
"Law 1: Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation."
No one's going to vote for a mob of unruly children.
I wish it were so, but I respectfully point out that they already have.
Yet Biden is president.
Afterwards, I caught Sara Huckabee Sanders response. Most of it anyway. Talk about a fun-house mirror world.
On PBS, David Brooks tried to normalize the speech--but didn't seem pleased.
At least Jonathan Capehart pushed back.
The state of our union is --
this new coffee at Walmart,
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Black-Rifle-Coffee-Tactisquatch-Dark-Roast-Ground-Coffee-12-oz/375951395
KD:
"He didn't present a laundry list of stuff he wanted to accomplish, but instead bragged on all the stuff he had already gotten done."
David Swerdlick (@nytopinion sr. staff editor.) on Twitter:
"Biden checks off the ACA money in the IRA, burn pits, CHIPS, Ukraine, infrastructure—a sign Democrats are learning from Republicans that in these situations, the politically effective approach is bragging about accomplishments, not dwelling on as-yet-undone policy goals."
I didn't watch, but I think Biden's inherent problem is his age. A lot of young people really dislike old people. It is the prejudice that is acceptable to shout out loud, as we see on here and all over social media. I bet the GOP gains several points by just running someone younger.
I disagree, the kids don't hate old people, instead they are frustrated with old people who seem uncaring to the issues near and dear to them like student loan debts, guns and global climate change. Against a hypothetical everyone wants someone else but when you press them for someone who actually exists who could be a viable candidate, they pivot back to good old Joe.
Americans seem unable to distinguish between "people who seem uncaring to the issues near and dear to them" and "issues that require action by Congress, and not just the president alone."
Two words: Bernie Sanders
Three words: Bernie Sanders what?
He was "The Man in the Mask." A smart move, given how much screaming and yelling was coming from the unvaccinated side.
Bernie Sanders who is the contradiction of the idea that the young don't like old people.
"but I think Biden's inherent problem is his age".
So do I. And despite the opinions of most, I think it is more likely than not that he will choose not to run in 2024. Unlike 2020, current polls show him running about even with Trump. And he would no longer have the advantage of running against an unpopular incumbent. Throw in the Republican electoral college advantage, and I think he loses.
Besides, it is time for Democrats to find a new generation of leaders. I think Biden realizes this, and his speech seemed to me to have the lighthearted demeanor of somebody who has a secret that he has not yet announced.
Young people do not care for old people that yell “ get off my lawn”. Mostly I would say they are fine with normal old people. Right wing freaks are mostly old and scream at Faux all day cursing at Joe. Odd folks.
What was the average or median age of those ‘tourists’ in our Capitol on January 6, 2021?
. . . and what was their average or median A1C level?
A1C ?? A measure of damage from insulin ?
A significant portion of the Jan. 6 insurgents were diabetic.
I have doubts about the wisdom surrounding an 80 year old running for President in 2024.
But I have to say, watching Joe outmaneuver Republicans in that SUTU like he was playing a frickin’ fiddle, lessens my trepidation.
Joe Biden is 80. I'm 80. I have a fulltime job and I'm proud to say I enjoy it and I work hard at it.
My sister was four years younger than I, which is exactly the same age as Donald Trump. I see no particular advantage to being 76 instead of 80. I certainly do not believe Donald Trump has an age advantage vis-s-vis me regarding (a) ability to stay focused, (b) ability to work long and hard to solve important problems, and/or (c) discipline to "stay the course," putting off distractions and self-gratification. And furthermore, I believe in two more years I will have an even bigger advantage over Trump in those attributes. So IMO, age is a bogus distraction.
And in my five years on this current job, I have not noticed any age disadvantage vis-a-vis my coworkers either, who range in age from 38-62. At this age, it's wrong to try to apply a generalized assumption of age = capability; it's important to form a specific individual judgement.
You misunderstand me. I don’t have trouble with any 80 year old’s job performance. What I have trouble with is the actuarial tables.
Biden deserved the laughter for the observation that fossil fuels will continue to be needed "for a decade."
What's so funny about that?
1) Duh.
2) Uh, more than a decade.
Way to complain about nothing.
"Uh, more than a decade."
Yeah, in the sense that oil will still be used in 2032. But US oil consumption peaked in 2005--back when we had a GDP $10 trillion less than now, and a population of under 300 million. Even under conservative projections, EVs will be the majority of new cars sold in 2033, meaning we're on the declining side of the oil demand curve.
So, will fossil fuels be used? Yeah, they will. Will they be "needed"? Not so much.
I appreciate that he said "for a decade." That's a realistic take, given both middle-of-the-road (hehe) projections of EV sales growth (a bit more than half of all new vehicle sales in 2030 will be EVs) and the lifecycle of existing vehicles (10+ years).
It also highlights something new: if you are an oil exec, or a bank that finances new drilling, refinering, or other infrastructure, why on earth would you make investments with 20-year payback times if combustion-engine marketshare is plummeting over the next *10* years?
He said "at least a decade," which for my money is equal to "more than a decade. Certainly not far enough off to be laugh-worthy.
I liked it. The Republican hooligans embarrassed themselves. "Empty" Greene in her snow-blind white fur coat, yelling like ... well, the phrase everybody is using is "trailer trash." Even "not a Democrat anymore, if I ever was" Kyrsten Sinema in her canary-yellow skintight with the huge sleeves was not as disruptive. Although one couldn't look away... I guess that was the effect she was aiming for.
Didn't stick around to hear the Huckabee thing, which reporters have flagged as standard MAGArepub "carnage." I figured others would watch it and report, so I didn't have to. Old Joe's speech encouraged me, particularly the way he graciously, kindly, and devastatingly handled the boorish heckling, and I didn't want to hear the rejoiner from Bizarro World and risk going away mad.
Marjorie Taylor Greene's white coat looked like something she splurged on after her first big check from the massage parlor.
i probably shouldn't have, but i laughed out loud at that.
Maybe the White Bitch from Epic Movie?
Sarah’s response was amazing. It was so dark and dystopian. I imagined demons flying around in dark clouds in the background.
The funniest part was when she said, with no sense of irony, that the voters faced a choice between “normal and crazy.” Someone should photoshop a straitjacket on her at that point.
In other words, like every speech Trump has ever given.
I missed the Grammys and SOTU this week. Its pre-gardening season on YouTube for me.
I checked out some of the right wing commentary on the speech, which was (I suppose I should have predicted) uniformly negative. Three writers mentioned the Republican reaction when Biden said, “Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset. I'm not saying it's a majority...” Apparently, if you write for a right-wing audience, you've got to pretend that Biden's statement is false. (The basis for Biden's statement is Rick Scott’s “An 11 Point Plan to Rescue America,” which he issued when he was running the National Republican Senatorial Committee.) Nick Arama cites McCarthy’s statement on Face the Nation that cuts to Social Security and Medicare are “off the table,” at least for the purposes of the debt ceiling negotiations. I trust recent events make it clear that McCarthy doesn't speak for all House Republicans. Matt Vespa and Jacquelyn Martin do no better.
To be clear, I think it's obvious that Republicans aren't going to cut Social Security or Medicare. I think Biden was trying to avoid having a group of House Republicans threaten to block the debt ceiling limit unless Rick Scott's sunset proposal is passed into law, and then offer something less extreme as a “compromise.”
You missed the whole point of Biden's baiting of the Republicans. He got them to literally scream out to call him a liar, and took that moment to commit on live television to leave SS and Medicare alone. Even got them all to stand and cheer! That was political brilliance on his part. Biden was in his element. The MTGs of the world are naïve novices.
It will come to be viewed as a key moment in the (all too) gradual decline of George Wallace politics from the GOP. They are so compromised in their need for graft from the Chamber of Commerce that they can't get on the right side of the prescription drug debate, for instance. You could see how nervous they were when Biden started talking about insulin prices. Probably 30% of GOP voters have diabetes, I'll bet. ("Should I applaud? My constituents all hate the drug companies. Donald Trump might come out in favor of this. Egads, what do I do!" you could see them all thinking...
I was never super excited about Joe Biden, but I was wrong. The man has a heck of an instinct for politics.
I mean, MTG's white-fur-lady-from-the-country-club-screams-at-the-landscapers-for-getting-dirt-near-her-Porsche-SUV act was pretty good stuff...