President Biden began his vigorous and combative State of the Union address by invoking President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who, with World War II raging, declared that the country faced “a moment unprecedented in the history of the Union.” Now, with freedom and democracy under attack, Mr. Biden said he wants to wake up Congress and the country to a similar reality today.
With the country divided, and with Americans wondering whether the United States has the capacity to uphold the values that have defined it for the more than 80 years that have elapsed since Roosevelt’s war, the nation’s role in the world and even essential freedoms are in doubt. Mr. Biden had to advance a case not only for his record and his plans, but also for a worldview based on American strength and optimism. With notable energy — his prepared remarks contained 80 exclamation points — he largely succeeded.
The top of Mr. Biden’s speech was a stirring call for the United States to be its best self. He described his “predecessor” — former president Donald Trump — as “bowing down to a Russian leader” when he told Vladimir Putin, “Do whatever the hell you want.” Mr. Biden’s message to Mr. Putin? “We will not bow down. I will not bow down.” The president implored Congress to keep the United States’ promises to Ukraine, to help that country’s struggle to confront authoritarianism on the borders of the free world, arguing that the threat would not contain itself if it is not confronted.
Mr. Biden addressed threats to freedom and democracy at home, too, starting with the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection: “You can’t love your country only when you win,” he said. These same ideals, he explained, undergird the battle for reproductive rights, especially after an Alabama court ruling that frozen embryos are children.
Portions of the speech sounded like a laundry list of accomplishments and proposals more typical of the State of the Union. And, as is typical, this was a mixed bag. The president touted the robust economy — “15 million new jobs,” “unemployment at 50-year lows.” He’s right that the recovery is underappreciated. But his enthusiasm for “Buy American” policies and expensive industrial subsidies could end up wasting lots of money.
The story was similar on taxing and spending. Affordable Care Act subsidies that have helped the law reach new heights of success should continue. The child tax credit, which temporarily slashed child poverty, ought to be restored. The corporate minimum tax should be higher than today’s 15 percent. But the president is wrong to boast about the state of the deficit and to reject even modest reforms to entitlements such as Social Security, which need to be on the table to prevent a future debt crisis.
Other proposals in the speech, while laudable, were scattershot and perfunctory: Raise the minimum wage; confront the climate crisis; crack down on crime; get rid of junk fees, ban AI voice impersonation.
But a discussion of immigration brought Mr. Biden back to the bigger picture: the divergent paths before the country. The president criticized Republicans for blocking a bipartisan border deal, emphasizing the importance of limiting the ways in which migrants can now game the system. Yet he tempered his call for border security with a discussion about how his attitude toward enforcement differs from his predecessor’s. “I will not demonize immigrants saying they are a poison in the blood of our country,'” he pledged.
Mr. Biden also ably threaded the needle on the war between Israel and Hamas, stressing the former’s right to self-defense as well as its obligation to protect the human rights of the civilians who live in Gaza. His plan to provide a temporary port and pier on Gaza’s coastline to provide humanitarian aid to millions of its occupants, 20 of whom have already died from starvation, is sensible. And it, along with attempts to forge a six-week cease-fire deal, could help to convince skeptics, hundreds of whom blocked his motorcade route on Thursday, that he cares about Palestinians’ plight.
Yet the strongest part of the president’s speech was how he described his vision of American greatness, undergirded by the core values of “honesty, decency, dignity, equality” — and the alternative, the “resentment, revenge and retribution” that Mr. Trump hawks at every rally. This contrast in worldviews is the most important difference between the two options Americans will likely have at the polls come November. The usual jumble of legislative asks and executive actions interrupted this narrative. Mr. Biden’s task going forward is to keep telling that story.
