Joe Biden knows the exercise by heart. He attended so many times from the boxes of the Capitol as a senator from Delaware, then on the platform, behind Barack Obama’s shoulder, when he was his vice president. But the listener has become the speaker. This Tuesday, Joe Biden will deliver the traditional presidential address on the State of the Union in front of United States senators and representatives assembled in Congress, in Washington. It’s already the second for Joe Biden, but the speech of the day will nonetheless be new in more ways than one.
In fact, it is the first State of the Union address since Congress shared its leadership. If the Democrats who support Joe Biden still dominate the Senate, the Republicans obtained a majority in the House of Representatives after the partial exams.
In addition, the unpopular Joe Biden will have to hit the mood and defend his record step by step when he intends to announce his campaign for a second term in the White House in a few days.
Annual meeting, constitutional requirement
HE “state of the union” It is not at all atypical. On the contrary, it is an annual meeting, which custom fixes for the month of January… or, in its case, for the month of February. It is not just a matter of custom: the event responds to an imperative proposed by the constitution itself, its article II, paragraph 3, paragraph 1 thus establishes that “the president, from time to time, will inform Congress of the state of the Union and will submit to its consideration the measures he deems necessary” . and convenient”.
Its object is as simple as immutable. In this regime without a prime minister, and where the president largely embodies the executive, it is up to the latter to deliver his general policy speech and, above all, to promote his action.
International news invited to Washington
These two plans should closely merge during this edition, which we imagine will leave plenty of room for the evocation of the war in Ukraine and international affairs.
As PBS noted here, Joe Biden will surely promote his leadership within the international community in the Ukrainian conflict, and the firmness of its attitude towards China, in the competition that opposes the two countries, but also in echo of the destruction of the spy balloon that grabbed the US headlines a few days ago last weekend of week.
The economy as a battlefield
But in the United States, the nerve of war is always economic. Also, Joe Biden should dedicate most of his comments to him. A few days after resigning from his position as the main adviser to the presidency on the matter, Brian Deese revealed the content of the presidential message on Monday. According to him, the head of state intends to encourage “people to be optimistic.” And the situation advocates for him.
Firstly, it can boast solid growth (with a rate of 3.2% in the last quarter of 2022, above forecasts). It can still boast an unemployment rate reduced to 3.5% of the active population in December, the lowest in 50 years. Finally, business creation is going well and inflation, severe at first, is apparently under control, reduced to 5%.
So many successes that should allow him to embarrass the Republicans. The issue of bipartisanship will in any case be at the center of the discourse, since the recent victory of the Republicans in the House of Representatives augurs tortuous debates around the “debt ceiling” and a possible temporary default for the country. A traditional deadlock during such cohabitation between the executive and all or part of Congress.
mid-term summary
NPR, the American public radio, has listed the rest of the points that Joe Biden’s speech should mark: his infrastructure law -with 1,200 million investment-, his law on computer chips that allows the United States to stand up to China in this sensitive market, but also, in another register, that of arms control, the first adopted on this chapter for 30 years in the United States.
An additional element, pointed out in particular by AFP, shows that Joe Biden also intends to emphasize this Tuesday on the problem of violence: he invited the parents of Tire Nichols, this 29-year-old black man, who died on January 10, to the White House . after being beaten by several African-American police officers in Memphis.
Under the eyes of 38 million Americans
So the stakes await Joe Biden in large numbers just around the Capitol. Not to be missed. Because if he has already said his desire to compete for his re-election in 2024, the formalization of his new campaign is approaching by leaps and bounds. There was first talk of an announcement within days of the State of the Union address, but a Democratic executive told CBS it could come as early as March.
But whether it happens in a few days or a few weeks, it is certainly imminent. Proof of the crucial importance of his face-to-face with Congress: Joe Biden locked himself up all weekend in the Camp David presidential residence to polish his speech. It must be said that he will not find a better setting to display himself. According to NPR, the State of the Union address draws 38 million viewers nationwide, the largest annual audience for a president.
And this one desperately needs to find the ear of the public. A YouGov poll released on Saturday put the number of Americans who said they were dissatisfied with his action at 55%. His popularity rating is lower than that of the vast majority of his predecessors, with the exception of Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan, according to curves revealed by the FiveThirtyEight site.
Worse still, according to a survey published Monday by theAssociated Pressonly 37% of Democratic supporters want to see him back in 2024. This year, the State of the Union address will definitely look like a truth test for Joe Biden.
Source: BFM TV
