President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union underscored the bounds of his executive power, irking far-Left Democrats with his pared-back vision for the remainder of his administration, which will still be difficult for him to achieve with an evenly divided Senate.
Biden’s hourlong, at times stilted presidential report was overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Yet it was also a presentation of his reordered and recalibrated priorities before Democrats are predicted to lose control of Congress in November, revealing a White House midterm election strategy at odds with that of his party’s left wing.
The deadly Russia-Ukraine war dominated Biden’s State of the Union, providing 12 minutes of political unity at the start of his remarks during peak viewership, despite his mistaken reference to “Iranians.” Biden ripped “dictator” Russian President Vladimir Putin, crowed about “building a coalition of other freedom-loving nations” to impose crippling sanctions, and announced a ban on Russian planes in U.S. airspace as well as the release of 30 million barrels of Strategic Petroleum Reserve oil.
With regards to the homeland, Biden used the State of the Union to promote his first-year accomplishments, including the $2 trillion American Rescue Plan, the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal, a COVID-19 pandemic on the precipice of becoming an endemic problem, in addition to promising gross domestic product and employment data. But the president’s whittled-down to-do list simultaneously dismissed liberal efforts to pull Democrats further to the left, widening the rift with his party’s recalcitrant far Left as many people question his leadership and express pessimism about the future.
Two-term President Barack Obama’s White House spokesman Eric Schultz disagreed. According to the former White House deputy press secretary, Biden demonstrated strength as Russia jeopardizes world order and resolve to deliver for this country.
“While the policy pieces are important to set the agenda in Washington, the address was an unmistakable reminder to the broader audience that Joe Biden has their back,” Schultz told the Washington Examiner.
Biden did touch on liberal cornerstones, such as spending money on climate change mitigation, encouraging prescription drug price negotiations, and investing in the care economy through programs such as national paid leave and universal pre-kindergarten, all by taxing corporations and the rich. However, he repackaged the proposals as “Building a Better America” to “fight inflation” and “lower the deficit” instead of as part of his $2 trillion Build Back Better bill.
West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who blocked Build Back Better, appeared unmoved by the rebrand. He declined to stand and applaud Biden’s calls to, for instance, raise the federal minimum wage and extend the enhanced child tax credit, ideas Manchin criticized during protracted talks.
“They just can’t help themselves,” he said afterward. “Nothing’s changed.”
But at the same time, Biden minimizing the environment, criminal justice, voting rights, immigration reform, gun control, and student debt forgiveness irritated far-left Democrats. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the president’s State of the Union “left a little bit to be desired.” Fellow “Squad” member Missouri Rep. Cori Bush slammed him for not mentioning “saving black lives once.”
“All our country has done is given more funding to police,” she tweeted. “The result? 2021 set a record for fatal police shootings.”
For Schultz, that indicated that “governing is hard, and getting everything done you want is always a challenge.”
“Anyone who watched … saw a president working his best for the rest of us,” he said. “That is always the goal.”
Biden’s State of the Union was a unity pitch preemptively rebutting Republican attacks on 2022 Democrats for 40-year-high consumer price increases, pandemic-hindered and “woke” education, as well as violent crime spikes nationwide, according to University of Wisconsin, Madison Elections Research Center Director Barry Burden. Nevertheless, that did not prevent Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia from heckling him in the House chamber.
“The appeal to bipartisanship is going to rankle progressives in the party, but with only 50 seats in the Senate, progressives are not going to see their more ambitious plans on issues such as policing realized this year,” Burden said.
Whether the country was even listening remains to be seen. Cable news networks covering Biden’s first post-State of the Union stop in Burden’s state of Wisconsin switched midway to carry a Pentagon briefing about Russia and Ukraine. Similarly, newspaper front pages were preoccupied with the conflict.
State of the Union polling bounces are typically temporary, though any upward swing would put Biden in a better position to boost Democrats before November. The president’s current average approval rating is net negative 14 percentage points, and Republicans have an average 3-point edge over Democrats on a generic congressional ballot.
