Democrats have collectively exhaled in a metaphorical sigh of relief after President Joe Biden‘s 2024 State of the Union, an hourlong address that was more like a campaign speech than a report to Congress.
Biden had been under pressure from Democrats to perform amid speculation about his age and mental acuity before former President Donald Trump is poised to become this election cycle’s presumptive Republican nominee next week. But as most Democrats praised their commander in chief, others raised continued concerns regarding whether the people Biden needed to convince, namely independent voters, had paid attention.
Biden “came to play” with his State of the Union, according to former aide to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Aggressive Progressive podcast host Christopher Hahn.
“He delivered a barn-burner of a speech that will bring Dems home and should quiet the talk that he’s not up to the job,” Hahn told the Washington Examiner.
For Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Biden’s State of the Union “invited the American public to see his age as an asset.”
“He’s seen the full arc of the American story, has seen these trials and tribulations before, knows the angry dark side of the American character but also knows the very best of us, and has established relationships both in Congress and with foreign leaders over the course of five decades,” Auchincloss said. “But it’s going to make them think about it, I think, in a more nuanced way.”
Democratic strategist Stefan Hankin commended Biden’s policy announcements, including housing tax credits, as easy to explain and understand, in addition to the president’s “funny” ad-libs.
“Solid speech. Would have cut it down to 60 minutes. Very much on offense, which was great,” Hankin said in a text message, noting Biden blasting his “predecessor” and the Supreme Court, as well as “plenty of fodder” related to Republicans.
But “the five swing voters that actually exist probably weren’t watching,” he added.
Charlie Comfort, an at-large member of Iowa‘s Oskaloosa City Council and vice president of its school board, concurred with Hankin about Biden’s State of the Union’s audience reach, watching the address while trying to meet a work deadline.
“It was a little difficult to watch, but the substance of the speech was great,” Comfort said. “Because of how polarized we are, I don’t know necessarily that it was enough to vastly move the needle with his naysayers, but it might have moved it some.”
“He was fiery and called his opponents to the carpet, which is what he needed to do,” he continued.
Although Republican criticism of Biden consumed State of the Union headlines, including his exchanges with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), the president also seemed mindful of his Democratic scrutiny.
“I didn’t embarrass you, did I?” Biden asked Democrats after he stepped down from House Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-LA) rostrum.
Minutes later, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) told Biden: “Nobody’s going to talk about cognitively impaired now!”
“I kind of wish sometimes I was cognitively impaired,” Biden replied.
Biden’s State of the Union was not without its mistakes. The president has been criticized by Democrats for using the word “illegal” to describe illegal immigrants, as many in the party contend the descriptor is inappropriate. The misstep occurred in response to Greene, who heckled Biden about Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was allegedly killed by Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan citizen who was in the United States illegally, after she went for a run in Greene’s home state of Georgia.
“Lincoln Riley?” Biden said, mispronouncing her name. “An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal! That’s right? But how many of thousands of people are being killed by legals?”
Democratic skepticism of Biden was amplified last month by special counsel Robert Hur‘s classified documents investigation into the president, after which Comfort, who caucused for then-Democratic candidate Andrew Yang in 2020, told the Washington Examiner his support of Biden “is more so out of opposition to the alternative.”
“But I can say that there are some people, I have people I work with, some people I associate with definitely are really bothered by the special counsel’s report on his cognitive ability,” Comfort said. “It’s got some legs here in rural America. … Like Hillary Clinton‘s emails eight years ago, if not addressed properly, it’s going to have some legs.”
“It’s a narrative that got away from the Democrats,” he went on. “It just reminds me of eight years ago where the Democrats got complacent and felt like voters would reject Donald Trump because of who he was and what he was saying. And here we are, almost replaying that playbook.”
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With only 27 million people tuning in to Biden’s State of the Union last year, the president is set to take his campaign pitch on the road, with stops in Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in the next week. That programming will be augmented with a $30 million six-week advertising push, part of a month of action that includes endeavors aimed at expanding his staff, his volunteer pool, and his coalition.
“Donald Trump is not only failing to match our fundraising and investments — he’s showing neither the interest nor ability to build a winning coalition to get 270 electoral votes,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said. “President Biden sees things differently, which is why our campaign is using this month to aggressively scale our operation to engage and reach voters about the stakes of this election.”