For President Joe Biden Thursday night’s State of the Union (SOTU) address was a grand-slam home run. While admittedly it was one night and one speech, there were reportedly over 32 million people who watched it, five million more than watched his address in 2023. On multiple levels, Biden did everything he could possibly have done in a speech. The immediate CNN instant polls indicated that 60% of Americans had a positive view of the speech, 35% of them had a “very” positive reaction. There is every reason to expect that the next round of presidential polls will reflect a pro-Biden uptick from potential voters. Within the Biden camps it was also reported that the two hours during and following the SOTU speech gave the Biden presidential campaign its two best fund-raising hours so far.
President Biden used the speech-- as do all presidents--to tout his successes, detail his legislative agenda, and attack his opponents. In all of these areas the President did not hold back. The address was extremely well-drafted. The President exhibited a willingness and ability to ad-lib as the opportunity presented itself. Unlike many similar SOTU addresses delivered on the advent of a forthcoming campaign season, since President Biden already knew who his opponent was, Biden used this speech as an extended stump speech. His campaign knows that over the next eight months, there will be only two more major national events which could be equally determinative for Biden’s re-election; his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention on August 22 and the first Biden-Trump presidential debate—should it actually occur.
Perhaps surprisingly but effectively, President Biden addressed the matter of his age directly. He framed his competency to handle the affairs of state for four more years through the vigor and pace of his address. As did Senator John Kennedy when he addressed the question of his Catholic faith in his famous 1960 September speech before the Houston Ministers Conference and defused the issue of how his faith would influence his presidential decision-making, so too did Biden address his age before the nation. The President explicitly stated that the sharpness of his speech and his articulate presentation should counter any concerns expressed in polls that he was too old to serve for another term.
The Republican Members dutifully sat through the one-hour long speech waiting for its conclusion. In their subsequent media and internet reaction, they gave little indication of any interest to engage in legislating. The demarche which House Speaker Mike Johnson presumably gave (likely blessed and/or orchestrated by Donald Trump) saw the Republican Members sitting on their hands for some of the most innocuous and standard statements made by the President concerning the nation and national policies. (Noticing this as well the President singularly signaled to his old colleague Senator Lindsay Graham how ridiculous the GOP members were acting.)
The Republican reply to the SOTU address was delivered by the Republican freshman Senator from Alabama Katie Britt. Her remarks were both partisan and non-substantive. She addressed almost none of the serious issues facing the nation, many of which the President had presented in his speech. Her only sharp attack came against the President’s age, which Biden had addressed and dismissed eloquently.
Perhaps the most disturbing part of the SOTU address was what it demonstrated about the future of democracy and the nation. In Congress it was clearly visible that the future of the Republican Party is wedded to Donald Trump. If he fails to win the election in November, the Grand Old Party will need to look for an entire array of new leaders. It will not be a matter of whether the Republican Party is conservative, right of center, or centrist, descendants of Reagan, Rockefeller, George Bush, or John McCain. It will be that there is no Republican Party.
There are no Republican leaders in either House of Congress or in State Houses who are espousing a political posture deviating from that of Donald Trump. The ugly bickering which was on display during one of Congress’ grandest moments of the year was sad. It portrayed the Congress, largely the Republicans, degrading the very institutions of American Government.
While some of this has been present during legislative deliberations since 2009 and especially since 2016, Thursday night’s performance was similar to some of the most insulting legislative displays that occur in the House of Commons. In Britain, however, this style of behavior has been ingrained in the institution for centuries and is couched within the boundaries of the most eloquent usage of the English language and within the character of British parliamentary democracy.
The SOTU address demonstrated that Americans rightly ought to be concerned about the future vibrancy and viability of the Republican Party. Whenever the book is closed on Trump’s leadership of the Republican Party, it will take a long time to rebuild a coherent and viable new party, given the damage that Trump has done to the party of Abraham Lincoln.
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