One administration official said the speech’s importance is not lost on the president’s top advisers — and the president himself.
Advisers grappling with President Joe Biden’s stubbornly low poll numbers and pressure from Democrats to shake up his strategy are planning a far more aggressive approach in coming weeks, with a keen focus on what they see as a high-stakes opportunity and hurdle to clear: the State of the Union address.
One administration official said the speech’s importance is not lost on the president’s top advisers — and the president himself.
“This is probably going to be the most important speech of his presidency and it’s going to set the tone for [this] year,” another administration official said.
The White House is trying to fend off Democratic anxiety about how the incumbent president enters the election year — virtually tied with former President Donald Trump in national polls.
Do people still watch the SOTU in any significant numbers? I have to admit I haven’t watched one in years. I don’t really see the point.
I haven’t watched one in a while, but it’s impossible to get away from the reporting about it.
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I bet I can write a good tl;dw right now. SOTUs are incredibly predictable. It’ll be something like:
President says yay America, Democrats clap and Republicans sit there. President points out a serviceman in the balcony, everybody claps. President says freedom, democracy, liberty. Democrats clap and Republicans sit there. President says middle class, hardworking Americans, something something taxes. Democrats clap and Republicans sit there. Nothing of value is accomplished and twelve million children still go hungry.
Just reverse the clapping depending on the president.
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I’m so tired of those two I wouldn’t care if they did two girls one cup on the House floor
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I watch them occasionally when I feel like it’s an important moment. I’ll probably watch this one.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
WASHINGTON — Advisers grappling with President Joe Biden’s stubbornly low poll numbers and pressure from Democrats to shake up his strategy are planning a far more aggressive approach in coming weeks, with a keen focus on what they see as a high-stakes opportunity and hurdle to clear: the State of the Union address.
The campaign feels the speech was successful in commanding significant attention, which they will reinforce with Monday’s address about political violence that Biden will deliver at Mother Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina, the site of a deadly 2015 shooting that targeted Black churchgoers.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will pick up their pace of travel — some campaign, some official — with a particular focus on the early-voting states in the Democratic primary calendar: South Carolina, Nevada and Michigan — the latter two also important general election battlegrounds.
Bruce Reed, the deputy White House chief of staff, has been leading a review process in the administration for weeks focused on identifying policy priorities for this year, an undertaking that will help shape the speech as well.
And he’ll have a chance to continue to highlight bipartisan initiatives under the umbrella of his “Unity Agenda” — enhancing access to mental health services, supporting veterans and combatting fentanyl — where additional progress can be made this year.
Similarly, Biden advisers felt that in his speech near Valley Forge on Friday, some of the best moments were again largely unscripted, as he flashed what they said was genuine anger when veering from prepared remarks that cataloged past Trump comments denigrating veterans and expressing admiration for foreign dictators.
The original article contains 1,384 words, the summary contains 269 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Why would you want to tamp down anxiety?
Ramp it up so people are more willing to get out and vote.
President Biden is literally losing to a fucking wet noodle in current polling.
He is pathetic and needs to step aside. He’s a mediocre less than lukewarm president…. The only thing he has going for him is that he is not Trump.
Step aside. But he won’t. And we will have our first sitting President serving his country with a fucking ankle monitor living under White House arrest.
He’s literally the best president we’ve had in the past 40 years. I’m sorry you don’t like him, but he’s taken a deeply divided nation and managed to push through some of the most progressive reforms in my lifetime.
He’s done far more with far less than any President in my lifetime. You may have to go back to Lincoln before you find a similar political landscape.
All the major union successes are possible because of his support. The funding for green initiatives in the US is literally the largest that’s ever pushed through anywhere.
He took control of the most mismanaged government in history at the height of a pandemic against a split Congress that would as soon spit in his face rather than give him a win. The supreme court is obviously partisan and eager to undo everything he’s accomplishing, but somehow he keeps making progress.
Yeah, he’s done some really stupid stuff, especially his support of Israel in the face of Palestinian genocide. He’s not perfect and I want him held accountable for that stuff as well.
That said, I genuinely think history will look very kindly upon him, should our country not completely self-destruct. He has managed one of the most challenging climates a president can face and has pulled off genuinely historic wins. He’s a consummate politician in the best way possible.
He’s literally the best president we’ve had in the past 40 years.
…and that’s when I stopped reading.
In all seriousness, who’s better? I think the only serious contender is Obama, who doubtless accomplished a lot of important things, but also had a lot of political naivete and struggled to navigate a similarly divided Congress.
Clinton runs a distant third, but had a solid economical and political landscape and basically didn’t mess anything up too badly. I guess H. W. Bush would be fourth, but his single term made it clear he was anything other than dynamic or compelling even at the time. W. Bush was downright devastating for our political and economic standing. Reagan is basically why we are where we are today. He still enjoys too much goodwill for how disastrous he was for the US.
Obama 100% it ain’t even close, Jack.
He met the moment. I have plenty of gripes (ie not prog enough), but he was a solid leader for the country. Ironically, I think much of this MAGA shit is fallout from having a competent black man as president. AND he wanted to give you healthcare?! Half the country’s brains exploded trying to figure out how free healthcare could be a bad thing
I think that’s a really fair argument to make. I agree that having a black man in office drove half the country insane. I think Obama was a great communicator, inspirational figure and his healthcare reforms were deeply important.
This
I love how comments like yours, refuting comments like theirs, never seem to have a response. Good write up, thank you.
Just to attempt to show you how wrong you are and that you are not really saying much of anything.
I DO NOT SUPPORT TRUMP, but for the purposes of this post let’s pretend that I am
———-
Trump literally the best president we’ve had in the past 40 years. I’m sorry you don’t like him, but he’s taken a deeply divided nation and managed to push through some of the best legislation in my lifetime.
He’s done far more with far less than any President in my lifetime. You may have to go back to Lincoln before you find a similar political landscape.
All the major successes are possible because of his support. The funding for the best initiatives in the US is literally the largest that’s ever pushed through anywhere. His bills were the biggest since ever.
He took control of the most mismanaged government in history at the height of a pandemic against a split Congress that would as soon spit in his face rather than give him a win. The supreme court is obviously partisan and eager to undo everything he’s accomplishing, but somehow he kept making progress.
Yeah, he’s done some really stupid stuff, especially his support of North Korea and Russia. He’s not perfect and I want him held accountable for that stuff as well.
That said, I genuinely think history will look very kindly upon him, should our country not completely self-destruct. He has managed one of the most challenging climates a president can face and has pulled off genuinely historic wins. He’s a consummate politician in the best way possible.
History won’t look kindly on him. Now more than ever, everything is recorded, there’s way too many receipts to deny how bad he truly is. People are just in denial still. Hell, this is huge business on denying it. We’re seeing late-stage capitalism candidates. Fucking reboots and rage watching
I genuinely tried to entertain this in the interest of being open minded. I hear your point, but it’s just not connecting in light of the fact that Trump has been a Russian asset for nearly forty years and actively engaged in insurrection against the United States. His handling of Covid murdered (yes) three million Americans that were preventable deaths in order to drive a partisan issue to further polarize Americans.
If things were less egregious, I might agree with you, but these things are not equivalent. It’s just horse shit.
