Biden Reduced The State Of The Union To A Campaign Rally – OpEd

By

The speech known as “The State of the Union”, which is delivered every year in one of the first months of the year by the President of the United States, addressed to the people of this country and in the joint session of the Congress consisting of the representatives of the House and Senators, is mostly a report of the situation and the conditions of the country in the past year, as well as a general overview of the plan and direction of the year ahead, rather than a political speech. This annual speech is done due to the requirement of the United States Constitution in paragraph 1, section 3, article 2, which accordingly the president must periodically present a report to the nation, including the legislators.

Joe Biden, however, effectively broke the tradition of the event’s non-political nature this year by using it as the opening speech of his campaign for the 2024 presidential election. Although he has not yet formally declared his intention to run, he sent a message to his rivals in the Republican Party and among the Democrats that he does not intend to leave politics so easily.

Other indications of this include his visit to Wisconsin, which is customarily one of the key states and a battleground between the two parties, after the speech. He may be indicating, consciously or unconsciously, that he wants to serve a second term in office by making references to “finishing the job” in a variety of ways. Of course, it should be noted that the majority of Biden’s speech was a description of the situation, and speeches like these have little to no impact on an incumbent president’s popularity. When we look back at history, Ronald Reagan’s speech had the biggest impact on the president’s popularity, which was only 3%. In actuality, the president’s ability to gain more supporters for a second term cannot be judged solely on the basis of the results of this yearly speech.

On the other hand, Biden’s remarks about his efforts to support social security and the Medicare program, as well as his demand for its permanent extension after its sunset in 2025, which just so happened to be a key issue in the mid-term election campaign, also reveal his early attempts to win over voters from lower socioeconomic levels. Naturally, those who oppose this proposal, including some Republicans and Democrats, think that it will place a heavy financial burden on the government and significantly increase its debt.

 Whether or not Biden decides to seek reelection, his speech had a generally conciliatory tone, and he made a special effort to address every member of the House and every senator, ignoring the points of contention between the representatives of the two parties. Naturally, there were radical lawmakers who attacked him as a liar in the middle of his speech when he mentioned how the Republicans had refused to extend the Medicare treatment plan and how the national debt had grown by 25% under Trump’s leadership. Though the room was generally quiet, when he said that no billionaire should ever earn less than a teacher or a firefighter, many Republicans and all Democrats stood to applaud.

The United States stands firmly with the people of Ukraine and will continue to support this as long as it is necessary, President Biden said addressing Oksana Markarova, the ambassador of Ukraine to the United States, who was present on the floor. This demonstrated the apparent unanimity of Congress on foreign policy and the war in Ukraine. However, the reality is that most Republicans and some Democrats oppose continuing aid to Ukraine and consider the costs incurred thus far to be extremely excessive and unreasonable. In reality, given the new makeup of the Congress, the verbal statements will merely serve as propaganda, and contrary to what they claim, it is likely that Ukraine will continue to receive financial support and weapons as long as Russia is unwilling to leave this country.

All things considered, it can be said that Biden’s “State of the Union” speech was more focused on domestic issues, such as economic growth, lowering the unemployment rate, highlighting the increase in taxes on the wealthy, lowering the cost of insulin for diabetics, supporting the extension of Medicare and Social Security, and requesting Republicans support for Medicare. That is, all the issues that are of utmost importance to American citizens and will unquestionably affect their voting decisions in the upcoming elections in 2024.

In terms of foreign policy, Biden only brought up one topic: the conflict in Ukraine and American support for this nation, which was more of a show of anti-Russian sentiment and human rights than a firm commitment. In this sense, it is safe to say that Biden’s speech effectively marks the start of his campaign, and by abusing this national opportunity, he has turned it into an election issue. The great interests of the United States appear to be being held captive by domestic political games, and in the absence of national politicians, those who forgo national interests in favor of their short-term partisan and personal interests are in charge of the largest economy and military power in the world.

Sarah Neumann

Sarah Neumann is a professor of political science and teaches political science courses at Universities in Germany

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *