A speech on the march of the world as much as on the “state of the Union”. During his solemn address to Congress, Joe Biden will strive on Tuesday to reassure an America deeply concerned about the war in Ukraine.
In his “State of the Union Address,” in which the Chief Executive reports annually to the legislature on his actions, the President wants to “speak directly to Americans about the historic progress we have made, the work we have left, and his optimism for the future,” according to the White House.
But Joe Biden will have to deviate from the tradition which wants this speech, of which each word is weighed a thousand times and then a hundred times commented on, to focus first on national issues.
According to a CBS poll, Americans mostly want to hear him talk about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, before the economy or COVID-19.
“We will hold Russia to account, and our sanctions are already having a devastating impact,” Joe Biden wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, after speaking with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, about the “escalation” of the offensive. Russian military.
Symbolically, his wife, Jill Biden, invited Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, to listen to the speech alongside her on Capitol Hill.
The 79-year-old Democrat, who promised when he took power to form a grand coalition of democracies around the United States against authoritarian regimes, will face Republican parliamentarians, some of whom accuse him of not doing enough in the face of Vladimir Putin. .
On the contrary, Joe Biden will want to hammer home to the Americans that the country is, with him, in good hands.
According to the latest polls, less than 40% are convinced of this, despite strong growth, despite lower unemployment, and despite the pandemic which seems to be loosening its grip. Wearing a mask will also be optional during Joe Biden’s speech on Capitol Hill.
None of this has so far benefited the president or the Democrats, who fear losing their very slim majority in Congress in the fall.
Inflation and divisions
On the economic front, households are concerned about galloping inflation.
On major social issues, such as abortion, firearms, the fight against racism or sexual discrimination, partisan divisions are sharper than ever.
Politically, Donald Trump continues to warm up his supporters and the climate remains electric. The Capitol police put back in place, before Joe Biden’s speech, the barriers that protected the building after its attack in January 2021 by supporters of the former Republican president.
To appease the country, the president had promised major transformative legislation, on social spending and electoral rights. But his strategy came up against too little parliamentary room for manoeuvre.
The White House therefore wants to change direction. On Tuesday, Joe Biden should favor concrete and if possible consensual subjects.
Jill Biden’s guest list gives a taste of that.
In addition to the Ukrainian ambassador, the first lady will have a young diabetic boy by her side, while the White House is fighting to lower the price of drugs.
There will also be the boss of the computer components giant Intel, whose massive investments in the United States are supposed to symbolize Joe Biden’s promises of an American technological restart.
At his side, a metalworker and trade unionist, to embody the president’s attachment to “blue-collar” workers.
Also invited is Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, when the Biden government pledges to fight the harmful effects of social networks on the mental health of young Americans.
Another guest will represent a cause dear to the president. It is about the widow of a soldier who died of cancer, who said that she had fallen ill after inhaling toxic fumes in Iraq.
Joe Biden, whose son Beau, who had also served in Iraq and who died of a brain tumor in 2015, pledged to support veterans exposed to “burn pits”, fires in which all kinds of waste, including chemicals, at US military bases.