Biden gets chance for reset in State of the Union speech

When President Biden steps to the podium Tuesday night to deliver his State of the Union speech, he should acknowledge Americans’ frustration with the direction the country is headed and announce the steps he will take to fix a multitude of crises, according to authorities on presidential speeches.

Mr. Biden will deliver the speech at the Capitol while beset by troubles both at home and abroad, including a war in Eastern Europe that is expected to occupy a central portion of the address.

There is also the nagging problem of the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation is at a 40-year high, gas prices are surging and the U.S. crime rate is soaring.

The crises helped chip away at Mr. Biden’s approval rating, which reached a new low of 37%, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll this week. That’s a 4-point drop from a 41% approval rating in November.

“The thing Biden needs is a narrative about how things are going to get better because he’s taken the steps to make things better,” said Robert Rowland, who teaches presidential rhetoric at the University of Kansas. “Biden’s difficulty now is that people are still dealing with the pain of COVID and inflation in particular.”

It is not unprecedented for presidents to acknowledge America’s troubles in their remarks, though it’s extremely rare. In 1975, President Gerald Ford admitted that “the State of the Union is not good,” perhaps the last time a president admitted things weren’t going well in his speech.

The White House said Monday that Mr. Biden will take an optimistic tone and zero in on his efforts to lower costs for American families.

He will unveil a four-point plan to tackle rising prices from the gas pump to the grocery store. The plan includes making more goods in America, bolstering supply chains, reducing the deficit and promoting competition among workers.

“The president will lay out his plan to lower costs for American families while continuing a historically strong economic recovery,” a senior administration official told reporters.

White House officials wouldn’t say if the president will use the word “inflation” during his speech.

That’s an issue Mr. Biden needs to address head-on, said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon.

“It is a big problem for him,” Mr. Bannon said of inflation. “It is probably the biggest obstacle to improving his performance rating, and it could be an even bigger problem with the oil market disrupted. Of all his domestic priorities, inflation is the one he needs to address.”

The president will also advocate for legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour and make it easier for workers to unionize.

Republicans accused Mr. Biden of ignoring the issues that matter to Americans such as crime, the border crisis and rising gas prices. They say Mr. Biden is focusing on progressive talking points in his speech.

“This will not be a unifying or bipartisan speech and will not focus on the issues that the American people really need and looking to address,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told reporters.

It is unlikely the speech will do much to improve Mr. Biden’s approval numbers, Mr. Rowland said. He noted that State of the Union speeches rarely change public opinion in the short term.

“Rhetoric very rarely changes public opinion unless it’s over a longer period of time when a president presents a coherent perspective and that perspective seems to be validated with policy,” he said.