The big news for today, Tuesday, is that Biden will strut into the joint session of Congress and give his speech, State of the Union….I will watch and write my review tomorrow but for those that have better things to do then here is what is expected tonight…..
President Biden delivers his second State of the Union address Tuesday night, but don’t expect a raft of specific new policy proposals given the near impossibility of making them reality in a divided Congress, reports the AP. Instead, expect a speech offering Americans general reassurances that the nation is on the right track, particularly with the economy in regard to inflation and unemployment. Presidential historian Luke Nichter of Chapman University sees Biden’s No. 1 goal as being a “calming presence” for the country. Another crucial task will be making the case that he should run for re-election, even as many Democratic voters are skeptical about that.
“I think this is an impossible speech to give because it’s a speech that requires him to speak both about the state of the union as it is and the direction he hopes to lead it, which is about playing the role of statesman,” political scientist William Howell of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy tells the Hill. “But it also is going to lay the groundwork for most likely his own run for office in 2024, which will call for him to be decidedly political and to cover all kinds of ground.” The war in Ukraine and China’s spy balloon are likely to surface as topics on the world front.
“(W)e’re told not to expect a red-meat, campaign-style speech,” per the Politico Playbook. “Instead, expect a traditional presidential call for unity—and a subtler pitch for steady leadership over partisan chaos as Washington heads into a high-stakes standoff over the debt limit and long-term fiscal planning.” The speech starts at 9pm Eastern, and notable guests include the mother of Tyre Nichols, the man who stopped a gunman at a California dance hall, and Bono.
This speech will probably be a yawn because there is very little Biden can say or promise that will be at all doable.
Stay tuned for the speech review tomorrow here on IST.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
In Saner Thought 
I can give my own state of the union in fewer words than the president can and here goes –“The Union is in better shape than it could be and is in worse shape than it should be but nothing is going to change because we are too divided and there does not seem to be any prospects that we will ever be less divided.
Short and sweet and fairly accurate…..chuq
Luckily, we do not have such speeches over here. For that, I am grateful.
Best wishes, Pete.
You are fortunate….these are nothing but political theater as I will show later…..chuq
We are so divided that we can’t agree on anything – according to our politicians, NOTHING that the “other side” does has any value whatsoever, and the arguing and finger pointing and sleazy attacks never end – and I am pointing fingers in both directions, we are as extreme on the left as we are on the right – and both hurt the vast majority in the middle who want compromise, civil discourse and intelligent goals and approaches to our problems.
Exactly, Johnrieber, exactly! So what do we do now?
I keep hoping that our “fever” breaks…but we will see
It has been going on for a l long time now.
I agree that civil discourse is more appealing but I do not think that voters want that….or they would vote for it instead they vote for the idiot with the biggest wallet. chuq