Seems there IS a BIG positive push wave behind the event……
Joe Biden was back in his element…
Good Ole’ Joe the ‘Everyday Guy’….
180 degree’s from his predecessor and his minions ….
A CNN flash poll of the State of the Union found 72% of viewers had a positive reaction to President Biden’s speech.
Key takeaway: 71% of speech watchers said Biden’s policies will move the country in right direction — up 19 percentage points from before his speech.
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Playbook notes President Biden had a few goals last night:
- Remind his audience of his accomplishments over the last two years.
- Reiterate his positions in the spending debate (no negotiations over the debt ceiling and no touching Social Security and Medicare).
- Detail the most popular highlights of his 2023 agenda.
- Expose his congressional GOP opposition as unreasonable and chaotic.
“The speech accomplished the first three goals if you listened or read it carefully. But it will be best remembered for the dramatic clashes with jeering members of the GOP which may have done more than Biden ever could have hoped to accomplish goal No. 4.”
John Harris: “With boos, taunts, groans, and sarcastic chortles, the opposition party effectively turned themselves into prime-time props for President Joseph Biden.”
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Jeff Greenfield: “Here’s an opening line I did not expect to write an hour or so ago: President Joe Biden gave a pretty good State of the Union address — indeed, one of the better ones I’ve heard.”
“What made it work was not just that Biden was in a buoyant spirit, with an energy that’s often lacking, but that it was a clearly political speech with a clear political goal: to define Biden as the guy who is on your side, going after the big boys who were flourishing at your expense.”
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David Frum: “The speech was strewn with traps carefully constructed to ensnare opponents. He opened with a tribute to bipartisanship, but the mechanics of his address were based on shrewd and unapologetic hyper-partisanship. He anticipated negative reactions in the chamber—and used them to reinforce his message.”
Rex Huppke: “I’ve never seen anything like it in a State of the Union speech – they ran at him like a pack of lemmings and, with a wink and a grin, he politely directed them to the cliff.”
image….President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, in Washington….AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
On Marijore Greene….
Ahead of the speech, Greene defended the idea of Republicans vocally opposing Biden.
“People stand up and clap for the president. I think we can stand up and oppose things he’s saying,” Greene said. “Just like a sports team, right?”
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said that the Republicans responded appropriately in some areas, such as to Biden’s Social Security comments. But he said that Greene, who stood and pointed at Biden during her jeers, went too far.
“It’s inappropriate because it then can hurt,” Cramer said. “Our brand is moral authority.”
Sen. Amy Kobuchar (D-Minn.) said she was not surprised by the outbursts, calling House Republicans a “volatile, sort of scrappy” group, and praised Biden for how he handled the outbursts.
“He didn’t let it get to him. He [had] this twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face, and he owned the room,” Klobuchar said.
More…