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US PRESIDENT JOE Biden faces one of the most critical moments of his political career today with a State of the Union speech aimed at convincing skeptical voters the 81-year-old is fit to beat Donald Trump in November’s election.
Most years the annual address to Congress is a largely ceremonial affair, but in 2024 the stakes are enormous as Democrat Biden seeks to overcome growing doubts about his age, the US economy and conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.
Millions of Americans will also be tuning in to the primetime spectacle to see not just what the oldest president in US history says but how he says it, with Republican Trump, 77, continually mocking Biden’s health and mental acuity.
Set for 9pm (1am tomorrow Irish time), the speech is expected to trumpet achievements on infrastructure, drug prices and student debt, with Biden saying yesterday that he had done “more over three years than most presidents have in eight”.
“You hired me to get the job done, build an economy that works for working people, and make life better for families,” Biden wrote on X.
“I’ll update you on our progress and lay out the path ahead.”
Trump and Biden nailed down a repeat of the 2020 election with their sweeping wins in this week’s Super Tuesday primaries – but it is a rematch that polls show many US voters do not actually want.
While Biden trails Trump in recent polls, he hopes his State of the Union speech will remind Americans why they voted for him four years ago and why they should give him a second term.
For three days over the weekend, Biden huddled with aides at the Camp David retreat crafting the speech, and he plans to “continue to fine tune” it today, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Biden was already well prepared for a repeat of last year’s heckling by hardline Trump allies during his State of the Union speech, the White House added – but that is not the only risk.
Observers will also be on the lookout for signs of frailty after Biden suffered a series of trips and verbal slips in recent years.
“For every president, whether or not Biden, stumbling in some way, not necessarily physically, but over their words, that can often have an impact overshadowing what the president is saying,” Sarada Peri, a former speechwriter for Barack Obama, told AFP.
Biden said his speech’s key issues also included reproductive rights, which Democrats view as a major vote winner against Republicans.
The world will also be watching, with conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine meaning the stakes of the 5 November election could hardly be higher.
Biden is expected to urge Republicans to end the political paralysis in Washington that is blocking vital aid for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s brutal invasion.
The US president invited Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska and the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to be his guests at the US Capitol for the speech, but both were unable to attend, the White House said.
Trump has also pushed allies in Congress to blocking money to curb the migrant crisis on the Mexican border and military assistance for Israel’s offensive against Hamas, saying they should not give Biden a win in an election year.
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Poor old joe… this is elder abuse asking such an old bugger to stand and talk for an hour
@David Cotter: I don’t think he would last an hour, unless they dose him up good and cable-tie him to the podium
@David Cotter: Ageist nonsense. A Joe Biden wet fart is worth more than your entire existence.
@Conrad Stapletwin: Calm down.
@Conrad Stapletwin: You’ve got a very strange fetish there, Conlad. Off to America with ye, try to sniff some of old Joe’s wet farts.
@Conrad Stapletwin: maybe so Conrad but I wouldn’t let innocent children starve to death like joe is doing
@David Cotter: The US is airdropping aid to Gaza right now and Biden has called on both Israel and Hamas to accept a ceasefire deal.
@Mike: I think you’ll find it’s Trumpy that has to wear a nappy because he keeps defecating himself.
@David Cotter: Do you really think Trump would supply food to the Palestinian people?
When it was Trump that recognised Israeli colonist settlers stealing Palestinian land, encouraging more of this colonial theft, thus feeding into what we now see.
@Conrad Stapletwin: ahh great it’s all sorted so….your excuses won’t fool anyone Conrad. Joe has blood on his hands
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Seriously? That must be awful for him, especially whilst in the middle of grabbing unsuspecting ladies by the meaooow.
@David Cotter: Yes, he has blood on this hands. The fact remains that he is a normal US politician who won’t try to overthrow democracy and can be expected to behave responsibly on the climate crisis, for example.
@David Cotter: Ignoring the reality of the situation so you can take cheap shots. Sums up you and your ilk.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: didn’t he throw toilet rolls out to the Porto ricians. He’s bigley humanitarian
Genocide Joe…
@patrick kelly: Do you think Trump would have tried to curb Netanyahu in some way?
Why is The Journal buying into the US media narrative that somehow Trump is a normal candidate, and where is tries anything, anything, to criticise Biden.
The US economy has never been better. US jobs are at an all time high. Yet The Journal prints “Biden seeks to overcome growing doubts about his age, the US economy and conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine”.
Biden might be old, but so is Trump. And yet this is somehow not a factor. Biden might be old, but he runs rings around Trump, and his shills. Biden have a life-long speech impediment is being used against him, while Trump not even knowing his wife is OK, and somehow Trump having to wear a nappy because he keeps defecating himself is not an issue.
As for Ukraine and Israel…
Come on Journal, surely you can do better than push the agenda of billionaire and corporate owned US media.
Why is Crooked Joe avoiding a live debate with Trumpy?
It says a lot about how scared his Democrat handlers are.
@Paul: Trumpy hasn’t been nominated as the US Republican Party candidate yet.
It has been Trumpy who has avoided debating his Republican Party challengers.
Is there some reason you don’t want to discuss this?
@Paul: I can guarantee you that Tiny the proven rap ist will not agree to any debate terms and will not debate Joe Biden at all, blaming the blah blah Marxist blah blah. Because if let on stage he might start to talk about what Saudi Arabia will be redoooo aahhhgghhhhh. Or maybe Maduro Venezuerr aahhoohho uh. He’s not next or near man enough to debate Biden.
Too old ! Let the place to someone younger. There is a Kennedy that seems to have good ideas and more in tune with our times
@Dominic Leleu: LOL, even his own family have denounced him!
@Dominic Leleu: @Dominic Leleu: The conspiracy theorist wingnut?
@Tricia G: And Biden’s family are…. HUNTER BIDEN. What was your point again, Tish?
@Mike: Yup, and how exactly is that investigation into Hunter and Joe proceeding…..sorry, I mean exactly how has it been falling apart in front of our eyes and exposing it as the deeply cynical exercise in disinformation it always was.
@Numinous20111: I don’t care, I have an omelette needs making and eating. Best of luck with the Bidens tho, bud! Hope it works out great for you!
@Dominic Leleu: Good ideas like being friends with and using as a foreign policy expert that asset of the Russian fascists, Scott ‘Helen Lovejoy’ Ritter? Tell me more.
Will he remember it?
Biden seemed pretty sharp last year. Didn’t he get Republican Congress members to decry his statement that their intent was to go after Medicare/Medicaid, thereby publicly having them on record denying it…..and the GOP’S formal response to Biden’s State of the Union was delivered by a Congressman who is recorded as saying the GOP were going to attack Medicare/Medicaid.
@Numinous20111: Yep.
‘Sleepy Joe’ outmaneuvered the entire Congressional Republican Party.
have your say