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President Biden confronted a national State of the Union audience that believes he is too old for the job Thursday night, calling on Republicans to end their blockade of aid to Ukraine and revive a failed border security plan in a prime-time test of his fitness to serve four more years.
The president tried to bring as much passion and vigor as he could muster for the hour-plus annual address, with polls showing that more than three-fourths of Americans believe Mr. Biden, 81, is too old to be effective.
He said Congress and the American people must wake up to unprecedented threats amid stalled military aid packages for Ukraine and Israel.
“Freedom and democracy are under attack at home and overseas,” he said. “Assistance for Ukraine is being blocked by those who want us to walk away from our leadership in the world. If anybody thinks [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not. We will not bow down. I will not bow down.”
Referring to the effort by President Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election, Mr. Biden said, “Some of you seek to bury the truth about Jan. 6. Here’s the simple truth: You can’t love your country only when you win.”
SEE ALSO: Most viewers liked Biden’s State of the Union remarks, poll finds
Girding for a rematch with Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden highlighted their sharp differences, particularly on abortion.
Referring to the 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned the national right to an abortion, a ruling for which Mr. Trump takes credit, Mr. Biden said the issue should motivate female voters to deliver a sweep for Democrats in November.
“If Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you: I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again,” the president said.
Democrats also played up the impact of the pro-life agenda on in vitro fertilization after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that equated frozen embryos with children. The decision disrupted access to IVF clinics in the state. Among the guests of first lady Jill Biden was Latorya Beasley of Birmingham, Alabama, whose IVF procedure was canceled after the state court ruling.
All told, Democrats and the Bidens invited about 30 abortion rights activists to the State of the Union.
The stakes were high for the nation’s oldest president, whose stumbles, confused statements and gaffes regularly make headlines. His approval rating is a dismal 38%. The annual showcase in Congress came just weeks after a special counsel declined to charge Mr. Biden with mishandling classified documents because, he said, the president is a “well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”
The speech gave Mr. Biden his largest TV audience until possibly the Democratic National Convention this summer.
Mr. Biden acknowledged the housing crisis and high mortgage rates, proposing an annual tax credit of $400 a month for the next two years for homeowners buying their first home or those who “trade up for a little more space.”
At several points in his address, Mr. Biden sought to deflect concerns about his age. He pounded the podium with a clenched fist for emphasis. He referred to Mr. Trump, 77, as someone who is “my age.” He suggested that a kindly old president is better than a bitter old one, portraying Mr. Trump as bent on “resentment, retribution and revenge” for his defeat in 2020.
“That’s not me,” Mr. Biden said.
Mr. Biden entered this election year with most Democrats saying they wanted another nominee. Since then, he has alienated more Democrats over, for example, his failure to wipe out student loan debt and his support for Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
As the president prepared to motorcade from the White House to the Capitol for the speech, a large group of protesters gathered near the White House chanting “Free, free Palestine” and holding large banners calling for a cease-fire. They drew a massive police response, temporarily blocking Pennsylvania Avenue and delaying Mr. Biden’s arrival by more than 15 minutes.
In his address, the president said he had ordered the U.S. military to construct a port on the Gaza Strip’s Mediterranean coast to receive humanitarian assistance by sea.
Mr. Biden also has been bleeding support from minorities and younger voters, and he is trailing Mr. Trump in several national and battleground-state polls. The president is set to follow up his speech with a campaign stop in Philadelphia on Friday.
Sen. Katie Britt, Alabama Republican, delivered the Republican response to the president’s speech. She said voters will decide this year between a brighter future or “whether we settle for an America in decline.”
“Hardworking families are struggling to make ends meet today,” she said. “The American people are scraping by while the president proudly proclaims ‘Bidenomics’ is working. Bless his heart. We know better.”
Republicans also highlighted the president’s failure to secure the southern border, which voters rate among their top concerns. Hours before Mr. Biden spoke, the House passed the Laken Riley Act, which blames the president for the slaying of the Georgia nursing student, allegedly at the hands of a catch-and-release Venezuelan migrant.
As Mr. Biden walked into the House chamber, he encountered Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, wearing a red “Make America Great” cap and a T-shirt bearing Riley’s name with the phrase, “Say her name.”
“Say her name,” she shouted at Mr. Biden.
The president said “politics have derailed” an administration-backed plan to beef up border security. Republicans objected to its daily threshold for acceptable illegal immigration and questioned the administration’s commitment to fulfill such a plan.
Mr. Biden blamed Mr. Trump.
“I’m told my predecessor called Republicans in Congress and demanded they block the bill. He feels it would be a political win for me and a political loser for him,” he said. “It’s not about him or me. … My Republican friends, you owe it to the American people to get this bill done.”
Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican Party nominee, said Mr. Biden’s speech was an exercise in “lying like crazy to try to escape accountability.” The former president focused particularly on the chaos on the southern border on Mr. Biden’s watch.
“Over the past 3 years, Biden has actively aided and abetted the importation of millions and millions of illegal alien migrants and resettled them into your communities,” Mr. Trump told voters in a statement Thursday.
Slightly more than 1 in 3 voters approve of Mr. Biden’s handling of the economy, despite low unemployment and the absence of a recession that many had predicted. Mr. Trump blamed Mr. Biden and Democrats for high spending that has been “triggering the highest inflation in many, many decades.”
He said voters in November must tell the president, “You’re fired.”
Inflation has fallen considerably from its peak in June 2022, but prices of many consumer goods have not recovered. Prices are 18% higher on average than in January 2021, when Mr. Biden took office.
Most voters say high prices have hit them hardest at the grocery store.
Inflation and immigration are two leading reasons why nearly three-fourths of voters believe the nation is on the “wrong track.”
As part of his economic vision, Mr. Biden proposed raising the corporate income tax rate to 28%, up from the 21% that Mr. Trump signed into law in 2017. Mr. Biden also urged Congress to increase the share of income that top earners must pay, regardless of deductions, to 21% from the 15% he signed into law in 2022.
The president also proposed barring corporations from taking certain tax deductions for any employee paid more than $1 million annually.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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