Biden’s State of the Union message and energy belong on the campaign trail | Editorial

“When America gets knocked down, we get back up.”

So, apparently, does President Joe Biden.

Over the course of his State of the Union address, an energetic Biden helped assuage concerns that at 81 years old he is too tired to do the job. He also reminded viewers of the domestic and international threats to freedom and democracy, his record of delivering for American families, and the chaos certain to materialize should he lose reelection in November.

Biden delivered the speech with a combative vigor, a necessary corrective for Democrats given current election polling that has the presidential race as a toss-up, and an emboldened Donald Trump waiting in the wings.

The president opened with the need for continued aid to Ukraine, a war that has become a stalemate after two years of bloody conflict and tens of thousands of deaths. Despite Congress giving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a rousing bipartisan reception during his December 2022 visit, far-right Republicans have successfully maneuvered to block additional support, leaving Ukrainian troops running out of ammunition on the battlefield.

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While Biden’s focus on the issue is welcome, and his support for Ukraine is both morally and geopolitically correct, he has yet to fully commit to ensuring a Ukrainian victory. The United States continues to hold back on transferring the advanced weapons — like long-range missiles and fighter jets — that would allow Ukraine to push Russian forces out of its territory. Biden must understand that good news on the battlefield will ease the passage of future aid packages, while bad news will complicate it.

Biden also used the speech to criticize Republican hypocrisy when it comes to the border. Immigration has become the top issue for a plurality of American voters. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and other conservatives wore pins commemorating Laken Riley, a nursing student killed while jogging, allegedly by an undocumented immigrant.

Biden, who himself has faced more than his share of personal heartbreak, offered condolences to Riley’s family. He also pointed out the absurdity of a GOP that seeks to score political points off of her death while also obstructing a bill that would have dedicated much-needed resources to border security and asylum application processing. Even as his fellow Republicans jeered and heckled, Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, who helped negotiate the border deal, could only nod his head and mouth, “That’s true.”

Part of the reason worries about immigration have soared is the nonstop drumbeat of fear-mongering about the border from Fox News and other right-wing media outlets, which pivoted away from the economy as a campaign issue as inflation slowed and the U.S. avoided a widely predicted post-pandemic recession. As Biden said, America remains the strongest economy in the world.

Stock market indexes routinely hit record highs, unemployment is at its lowest level in more than 50 years, and low-income workers have seen durable wage gains — even when adjusted for inflation.

That doesn’t mean it has been smooth sailing for everyone, as the cost of groceries and gas remains a pain point for many Americans. Biden can continue to help by pursuing his administration’s proposals for national paid leave, increasing housing stock to reduce home prices, and mortgage relief. Biden could also push for a full restoration of the pandemic-era child tax credit, which brought child poverty levels to historic lows.

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Yet, given the nonstop border coverage and bad news from abroad, it can be easy to miss the substantive steps the Biden administration has already taken to help working- and middle-class Americans whose incomes and savings have been crushed by the cost of medicine.

The Inflation Reduction Act will save households thousands of dollars thanks to a cap on prescription drug costs for people on Medicare, the extension of subsidies for plans on the health-care marketplace, a cap on the price of insulin, and other provisions.

Closer to home, Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law is already paying dividends. SEPTA secured more than $300 million to replace the struggling Market-Frankford Line fleet, and federal representatives announced $158 million to cap the Vine Street Expressway in Chinatown.

Biden has a track record to be proud of. His State of the Union address showed he has the energy, spirit, and enthusiasm he’ll need to defend it.