08 March 2024 , 16:54
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Joe Biden's "fiesty" performance at the State of the Union address has "re-set the terms" of his presidential campaign as he looks set for a Donald Trump rematch, an expert has claimed.
A combative President Biden opened the speech to a joint session of Congress by denouncing the rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and singled out Republicans in the chamber — but refused to utter Trump's name. Biden, who spoke with a vigour that his supporters claim he has been lacking, criticised "my predecessor" for Donald Trump's assertion that Russian President Vladimir Putin can do "whatever the hell he wants" with respect to NATO allies.
He implored Congress to pass additional aid for Ukraine while using nearly the entirety of the speech to find ways to persuade Americans of the contrast between his internationalist view of the world and the more isolationist leaning of his "predecessor."
READ MORE: Biden's best moments as President delivers confident State of the Union address
US President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington (AFP via Getty Images)Biden stumbled over a few words, and in the Republican response, Senator Katie Britt of Alabama called him “dithering and diminished” but it was a more vigorous performance than other speeches where his remarks can be meandering or hard to hear, according to some critics.
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Andrew Rudalevige, Professor of Government at Bowdoin College, believes Biden delivered a "feisty and fluid performance that exceeded expectations".
Biden was trying to show the difference between him and Trump (AFP/Getty Images)He exclusively told The Mirror: "Biden needed a strong speech to reassure undecided voters – and Democrats too – that he was up to being president for four more years. So it was about the optics as for the substance – and he delivered a feisty and fluid performance that exceeded expectations and re-set the terms of the coming campaign."
Following Super Tuesday and the announcement Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley was suspending her campaign after being roundly beaten across the country, Biden made a pitch to her supporters who are concerned with a Trump victory.
Professor Rudalevige believes the president made a "real effort to win them back onside", adding: "The voters who bucked the loudest voices in their party and supported Haley are nervous about Trumpism, both in its tone and its policies.
"Biden made a real effort to win them back onside by reminding them of his contrast with Trump and of his own essential moderation, even within his own party. Progressives holding up protest signs probably actually helped him there, as did his discussion of immigration.
"Meanwhile he reassured his own party that he would happily take on ‘his predecessor’ and other Republicans – and those Republicans helped him out by calling attention to their own extremism."