biden speech

biden speech

The Importance of Biden’s Speech

1. Introduction

The primary aim of this speech was to address the current state of his country, the immediate and future implications of its current condition, and, most importantly, what he plans to do to rectify it. With the recent discovery that the US economy is in worse condition than anticipated, and with American citizens increasingly suspicious of the government’s decisions and its ability to guide the nation to better times, Biden’s main focus is to revive hope in the American people and to restore their confidence in their government. He believes that this goal cannot be achieved without being both realistic as to the current state of the economy, and optimistic as to what can be done to correct it; hence he speaks of the many highs and lows of the economy, and at each step reminds listeners that “we can do this”.

2. Key Messages

Biden continued the tough-fought U.S. military has completed all of the platforms allowing an independent Iraqi government to support and defend itself. Stopping any backtracking, the only goal should be to transfer full responsibility to the newest government. This can be in stark contrast to the last policies using a U.S. plan for an open-ended military presence and basis in Iraq maintaining a significant ability to interfere in Iraqi affairs.

The strategy in Biden’s speech is included around conveying an obvious message regarding the U.S. mission in Iraq. Very first, the message addressed the situation involving the U.S. military mission in Iraq. He explained that the mission ended up being complete. The U.S. had met its responsibility to a sovereign Iraq. The precise mission would provide the freshly elected government together with a secure and stable environment.

3. Impact on Policy

The speech lays out the defining vision for the president’s next year, and please join us in dissecting it, observing both the finer points and the actual achievement of goals. Of primary concern is achieving the goals he has set out – that’s what much of this year’s speech was about from the aspirations for more healthcare coverage for the 45 million uninsured to efforts to end wasteful pork barrel spending, making the government more honest, efficient and effective. The primary method by which these goals will be sought is, of course, enacting new legislation, and in that case, the most effective experience is a President with substantial support in Congress. Although pressured politically by a bailout for home lenders and those unable to afford them, as well as more aggressive action to combat the recession, the overall vision is to gain needed support to get some of these long-term policy changes enacted during this next year. One lodge bipartisan commission on getting a tax and budget system that put the nation on a more fiscally stable path and another to explore ways to simplify the complex and burdensome system of financial aid for college students.

4. Public Reaction

“The reaction to the speech in the public, across the political spectrum, was overwhelmingly positive.” This is the opinion of Washington insiders, Agence France Presse, and it was something that was reflected across many articles after the speech. John Nichols’ article for The Nation is a prime example of this. “President Joe Biden made the case for the practical application of American ideals in the most compelling terms since the days of FDR,” is indicative of the tone of many articles that were written after the speech. Pete Mcmartin of Vancouver Sun wrote this: “I watch the state of the union speech to know whether America still values the things it should value, and to believe that the person leading it has the conviction to act on them. I sure didn’t hear a speech like that in the past eight years.” After the speech, CNN conducted an instant poll of speech watchers and found 78% had a positive view of the speech and 55% said it made them more likely to support Biden. While there was some negative feedback, an example would be Andrew Michta’s article in the conservative Spectator that says: “Biden gave a good speech about things Americans value, but it doesn’t mean he’ll be able to act on them.” The reaction from democratic politicians was basically the same as what was reflected in the media. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer praised the speech as one that represented Biden’s lifelong ideals. It was clear that the speech was a morale booster for a party that has been at low ebb since the election of Trump. This was evidenced by the immediate shift from the speech to push through the COVID relief package, something that Congress had been severely deadlocked on. A speech about unity and progress is one thing, but the Democrats will very much be hoping to see tangible change in the next few months. “It is just a speech,” said Senator Joe Manchin to Politico. “So now we have to see action.” The Republicans, however, thought differently. House leader Kevin McCarthy said that the speech was a disappointment because Biden did not address key issues such as schools and businesses, but instead addressed issues that Republicans view as less pertinent such as climate change and raising the minimum wage. In this sense, the reaction from various political figures was reflective of their respective party ideologies.

5. Conclusion

The work concludes with the identification of the speech as one of immense importance, likening it to the famous “Cross of Gold” speech, which defined and intertwined the speaker and his party. During Biden’s nearly 15-minute speech, his supporters were quick to believe that Fineman was correct. In the end, it is likely that history will remember Biden’s speech as incredibly important. For almost two centuries, the Democratic Party was largely represented as the party of the South. However, the civil rights movement of the 60s and the election of Richard Nixon in 1968 turned the South from blue to red, largely due to a perceived betrayal by the Democratic Party for its support of civil rights legislation. Since that time, the Democratic Party has been struggling to regain the support it lost among Southern whites. However, much of their attempts were vague platitudes that pandered to the South, choosing not to address the issue in the hopes of not alienating their black voters. In this light, the timing of Biden’s remarks takes on even greater significance and is indicative of a larger change. With the selection of Barack Obama, who is from the North and has shown the ability to win in Northern states, there is a belief among some Democrats that it is no longer wise to try and win Southern voters at the expense of losing Northern elections. At the same time, the Republican Party has become increasingly dominant in the South and seemed to be sealing its status as the party of the South with the recent selection of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as McCain’s running mate. It is therefore that Biden’s comments were not made to cater to Southern sentiments but rather to give up on the South in exchange for a more decisive victory in trying to make improved racial relations and winning in the North. Time will tell if this strategy is successful, but it is clear that Biden was selected as an attack dog to shift the campaign into a direction that uses race as an offensive measure to cripple the Republican Party from its current platform.