Some Quick 2024 State of the Union Thoughts

Joe Biden's salty SOTU.

Photo by Cameron Smith on Unsplash

On the day President Biden delivered his 2024 State of the Union address, the state of American politics could be summed up by three stories that occupied my social media feeds:

1. The New York Times story by four (?!) reporters about what other octogenarians think about Joe Biden’s age as he seeks a second term;

2. George Santos using his “former member of Congress” privileges to sit in the well of the House and attend the State of the Union;

3. Biden’s plans for the U.S. military to build a temporary port in Gaza to facilitate aid transfers and avoid mass famine in the occupied territories.

The third story is important for both political and policy reasons. Among other things it highlights the ways in which the U.S. alliance with Israel at the current moment is, as Paul Poast puts it, all cost and no benefit.

The first two stories are mostly media curiosities. They also completely swamped the coverage about Gaza. Which is a depressing if unsurprising fact about news coverage in 2024.

Still, if any State of the Unions should political, it is the ones that take place during presidential election years. So how did Biden’s 2024 State of the Union speech go? Some thoughts:

First, damn, Joe Biden came out swinging. After opening his speech by referencing FDR’s 1941 state of the union speech, Biden did not mince words:

Now it is we who face an unprecedented moment in the history of the Union. 

And yes, my purpose tonight is to both wake up this Congress, and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment either. 

Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today. 

What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time. 

I have watched a lor of state of the union addresses and I cannot remember one that began with this stark of warning.¹

Biden pulled no punches in going after Trump or the Republicans in the chamber. About Trump he said, “here’s the simplest truth. You can’t love your country only when you win.” That is a really good and line.

Biden also thrived when engaging in give-and-take with GOP hecklers in the crowd. The right-wing conspiracy theory during and after the speech was that Biden was using performance-enhancing drugs. If that’s the conspiracy theory, then it’s a good speech.

Second, Biden talked up immigration. After talking about the bipartisan border bill, Biden finally pointed out the inherent importance of immigration to the American idea:

We are the only nation in the world with a heart and soul that draws from old and new. 

Home to Native Americans whose ancestors have been here for thousands of years. Home to people from every place on Earth. 

Some came freely. 

Some chained by force. 

Some when famine struck, like my ancestral family in Ireland. 

Some to flee persecution. 

Some to chase dreams that are impossible anywhere but here in America. 

That’s America, where we all come from somewhere, but we are all Americans. 

I just wish Biden would talk up the economic benefits of immigration as much as he talks about “Buy American.”

Finally, poor Mike Johnson. It can be a thankless task to be the opposition-party Speaker of the House during a SOTU. Still, I recall Nancy Pelosi or John Boehner handling it better than Johnson did. He sadly shook his head when Biden pointed out that the U.S. unemployment was at an all-time low. He didn’t even stand up when Biden said “Let’s remember who we are! We are the United States of America!” at the end. As Biden would put it, come on man!

It will be interesting to see how voters who are just starting to pay attention to the 2024 race react to seeing an animated Joe Biden. Maybe they will think, as my son did, that Biden still sounds like an old man. But he was a salty old man tonight who seemed more than up for the job.

1. Biden set the stakes of his opening section so big that later sections about snack sizes and “shrinkflation” seemed super-picayune by comparison.