Why President Joe Biden's first speech to Congress marked a turning point for TV news

Remember how nice regular can be?

Wednesday night was a reminder, at least on the political front, when President Joe Biden gave his first address to a joint session of Congress. He spoke for more than an hour, touting his administration’s achievements, particularly on the COVID-19 front, and laying out his hugely ambitious plans for the future.

And that was it. The end. Much like Biden’s first press conference, there were no personal attacks, no outrageous claims. “He never personally challenged anyone in the room,” CNN’s David Axelrod said.

There wasn’t even a cry of “fake news” for old times’ sake.

It was, again, nice. Different. Polite, even. What other address to Congress ends with, “Thank you for your patience”?

How Fox News and MSNBC reacted to Biden's speech

It was also a little strange, like so many things, thanks to the pandemic. A sparse crowd. Masks. Fist and elbow bumps. As a speech, it was a full plate of offerings.

As TV, it was a return to form. Pundits set up the speech, watched the speech, talked about the speech. Old school!

Whether you agree with what Biden actually said, the political part of it, is up to you; seek out the pundit of your choice for confirmation of your beliefs. Brian Williams on MSNBC said the plans Biden laid out were “Rooseveltian in scope.”

On Fox News, Chris Wallace said, “I think this is going to be a popular speech with the American public. He offered a lot of stuff.”

His colleague Brit Hume, however, said this was, he figured, the 45th one of these speeches he has covered.

“I felt about this one the same way I felt about nearly all the rest of them,” he said. “The best thing about it is that it’s over. … It’s never very fun to listen to no matter who’s giving the speech.”

He’s got a point.

But who’s giving the speech does matter. Biden’s not a fire-and-brimstone speaker. He’s not the orator Barack Obama was. Nor is he the carnival barker Donald Trump was. No matter what your politics, each of them grabbed your attention. And this speech was not without its dramatic flourishes.

'We the people': Read the full transcript from President Joe Biden's speech

For instance, Biden said at the outset that it's been "100 days since I took the oath of office and lifted my hand off our family Bible and inherited a nation — we all did — in crisis. The worst pandemic in a century. The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War."

No, he hasn't forgotten the insurrection of Jan. 6. And he shouldn't let anyone else in that room forget, either.

This was no Trump Show. It wasn't really a Biden Show either

Still, for much of the time, Biden seemed more like just a president talking about what he’s done so far and what he wants to do in the future. It’s a sales pitch, really.

But it was different.

It’s neither true nor accurate to say that this was just another presidential address to Congress. This was like the punchline to the old joke about why you keep hitting yourself in the head with a hammer — because it feels so good when you stop. The on-edge feeling evoked by Trump’s appearances before any sort of camera, or smartphone with a Twitter app, for that matter, just isn’t there anymore.

This led to a post-speech discussion about the issues for the most part. That is a genuine change from the last few years.

Any Trump speech became the Trump Show. This was not the Biden Show. He touted his accomplishments, yes, but with much less exaggeration than his predecessor. It was just a speech to a joint session of Congress. (It wasn’t called a State of the Union address because they don't call them that in a president's first year in office.)

You no longer go into covering something like this feeling like you’ve already dialed 9-1 and you’ve got your finger on the 1 key.

'It's about time,' Biden says of Harris and Pelosi's historic roles

It certainly looked different. Because of pandemic restrictions, there were only about 200 people in the chamber, far fewer than the usual 1,600. With the exception of Chief Justice John Roberts, Supreme Court justices were not there. Only a couple of Cabinet members attended, which meant there was no need for the “designated survivor” — one Cabinet member who doesn’t attend, in case of a catastrophe in which the president and Cabinet members are killed.

In that regard, it felt more informal, or at least less official.

Another change, this one for the better: For the first time, the vice president and speaker of the House were women. Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi took their customary seats as Biden began, and he made note of the occasion when he said, "Madame Speaker, Madame Vice President. No president has ever said those words from this podium. No president has ever said those words. And it's about time."

Biden outlined proposals for enough progressive changes that some joked Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote the speech. Sen. Ted Cruz complained to Sean Hannity afterward that Biden was being boring on purpose while laying out the most progressive agenda in American history.

(Keep in mind, this was Ted Cruz talking.)

But with all that, and whatever the other changes in view, seeing Harris and Pelosi there, in those roles, looked the most like progress. And the most welcome.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why Biden's first speech to Congress was a turning point for TV news