Biden Turned His Biggest Weakness Into His Strength at the State of the Union

It’s unusual for a president to start and finish a State of the Union Address on foreign policy, but Joe Biden had a purpose—substantive, political, and electoral—in doing just that.

He swung right into it, no throat-clearing bromides. His opening line: “In January 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt came to this chamber … to wake up the Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary moment. Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world.

“Tonight,” Biden went on, “I come to the same chamber … to wake up this Congress and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment either,” and, unlike in FDR’s time, “freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas at the very same time.”

Vladimir Putin’s Russia is “on the march,” and if he sweeps through Ukraine, he won’t stop there. “Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs,” but “assistance to Ukraine is being blocked by those who want to walk away from our world leadership”—those people being Donald Trump (referred to as “my predecessor”) and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who, at Trump’s urging, is blocking a Ukraine aid bill from coming to the floor for a vote. “My message to Putin: We will not walk away, we will not bow down,” Biden bellowed. “I will not bow down.”

Then Biden moved into the Jan. 6 insurrection—“a dagger at the throat of American democracy”—and the Republicans who “seek to bury the truth” about what happened on that day and the need to defend “against all threats, foreign and domestic.”

And there was the theme: The world is dangerous in a way we haven’t seen since World War II. American democracy is threatened in a way unseen since the Civil War. And in both spheres, the Republicans are walking away, but I, Joe Biden, will do what needs to be done.

Then, at the end of the speech—after delivering a forceful defense of women’s rights, a fairer tax code, and his administration’s record on the economy, crime, and health care (all of which he linked to various forms of freedom)—he returned to foreign affairs. After repeating his position on the Middle East (support for Israel but insistence that Israel do more to aid Palestinian civilians and to negotiate toward a two-state solution), he concluded where he started, with Franklin Roosevelt. This time he drew an explicit link between himself and FDR, aiming to turn his chief electoral liability—his age—into a strength.

“I know I don’t look like it, but I’ve been around for a while,” he said, provoking a laugh (so the camera showed) from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. “I was born amid World War II, when America stood for freedom in the world.” He segued into a précis of his political life, starting when he was a 29-year-old senator. “In my career,” he said, “I’ve been told I’m too young and I’m too old. Whether young or old, I’ve always known what endures. I’ve known our North Star, the very idea of America. … We’ve never fully lived up to that idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I won’t walk away from it now.”

It was a clever, at times brilliant speech, celebrating freedom at home and abroad, presenting himself as the defender of both, and his “predecessor” (along with those who do his bidding in Congress) as a threat to both—and then, as a capper, not only acknowledging but touting his age as the marker of his experience, his firsthand familiarity with the nation’s values worth fighting for.

Finally, he delivered the speech forcefully. This, of course, was the big mystery going into the speech—whether Biden would make it through without stuttering, stumbling, freezing, possibly fainting. Some pundits had even wondered whether he might surprise everyone by announcing that he was dropping out of the race and looking forward to a spirited contest among the many worthy members of his party.

If nothing else, this speech should torpedo the doddering-old-man meme that has plagued Biden these past few months in headlines, talk shows, and polls. Whether or not the speech has any impact on U.S. policy toward Ukraine, China, the Middle East, or the world’s other hot spots, the debate over whether Biden should run for reelection—whether he’s too old and dispirited—is, or anyway should be, over.