He has only just begun the campaign, but no rally on his path in search of re-election as president will have greater consequences than the one that Joe Biden plans to give this Thursday in Washington in front of a few hundred people.
It will be in the Capitol, when he fulfills his annual constitutional obligation to report to Congress on the state of the Union.
Although it is not really a rally, but a speech.
In it, Biden plays his game in front of millions of viewers in the United States and also around the world.
It will be a long intervention, long enough to give him time to sell the achievements of his three years in office and to those who doubt the suitability of candidate Biden - an 81-year-old man, who will be 86 when he stops being president if is re-elected―, to check if what special prosecutor Robert Hur said is true.
Hur was tasked with investigating Biden's handling of some confidential papers he retained from his years as Barack Obama's vice president, but he also decided to put on the geriatrician's gown to add an unsolicited diagnosis about the patient's "poor memory," which, He said, he forgot dates, some as significant as those of the death of his son Beau, who died in 2015 from a brain tumor.
So the first question that will float in the air in the Congressional chamber in an event chaired by the Vice President, Kamala Harris, and by the
speaker
of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson - a solemn occasion to which members of both are summoned. Cameras and guests of the president, famous and anonymous—that's how Biden was.
And above all, if he is seen as too old to direct the destiny of the leading world power at a time of great geopolitical instability.
The challenge is great, above all, for a man who was never particularly comfortable in the arts of oratory and who in these three years has tended to avoid contact with the press.
According to the White House, Biden has been putting the finishing touches to the text over the weekend at his Camp David residence, supported by
teleprompters
, surrounded by six assistants and a historian from the school of optimists, Jon Meacham. always with the stimulus of a tea designed to, ahem, soothe the throat.
It is such an important speech, and even more so in this election year, that his assistants began working on it in December.
Its contents are kept secret.
So it is not clear whether during that long speech he will quote his opponent, Donald Trump, although it can be taken for granted that he will talk about Ukraine, Israel's war in Gaza, China, abortion and immigration.
Health and economy
In calls with journalists, officials from his Administration detailed two of the most important topics that Biden will touch on this Thursday night in prime time (9:00 p.m., East Coast time; 6:00 p.m., on the West Coast).
In the field of health, they said that she plans to ask Congress this Thursday to work to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, and that includes setting a cap on the price of widely used drugs.
On the economic side, Biden plans to focus on “prioritizing the middle class in the American economy,” explained Lael Brainard, White House economic advisor.
Among other measures, she will talk about increasing taxes on companies with a horizon of 28%, as well as her “fight to reduce taxation of working families.”
“None of her policies will put a higher tax on anyone making less than $400,000 a year,” Brainard added.
“Congressional Republicans want to further cut taxes for the rich and large corporations, which will mean adding more than $3 billion to the debt.
“President Biden has made it clear which side he is on,” concluded the senior official.
The State of the Union address comes a day after Americans confirmed a scenario that they wanted to avoid at all costs, according to polls: that of a repeat of the 2020 confrontation between Biden and Trump.
Both achieved comfortable victories in the big election day on Super Tuesday.
Biden arrived at that appointment with the Democratic nomination guaranteed, as befits a candidate who is also president.
Trump cleared his last obstacle a few hours after the Alaska polls closed, when Nikki Haley, the last rival standing, announced that she was throwing in the towel and leaving the way clear for the magnate to pursue his second presidential term a little more than three years after dishonorably leaving the White House following the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
I am truly honored and grateful for the opportunity to speak directly to my fellow Americans on March 7.
We'll have a candid conversation about the future of our nation—and I'll outline the Republican vision to secure the American Dream for generations to come. eat.
pic.twitter.com/QN9q2eJUL1
— Senator Katie Boyd Britt (@SenKatieBritt) February 29, 2024
Tradition dictates that someone chosen by the other side respond to the presidential speech on Thursday.
And that he does it, furthermore, away from the Capitol.
In this case, the chosen one is Alabama Senator Katie Boyd Britt.
She has only been in office for a year, and at 42 she is the youngest of the 100 US senators.
She represents, therefore, the replacement of the Republican Party.
“At this defining moment in our country's history, it is time for the next generation to step forward and preserve the American dream for our children and grandchildren,” Britt said in a statement to congressional leaders in which he confirmed that She would give the answer.
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