Joe Biden's SOTU 2024 Walk Bolsters The Worst Digs About His Mental Fitness
President Joe Biden's goal in his 2024 State of the Union address was simple: convince the American people he deserves to be there to deliver a SOTU in 2025. He knew he had to make the strongest showing of his career; with Nikki Haley dropping out of the presidential race just one day earlier, the November 2024 ballot will almost certainly be a rematch between the president and Donald Trump. But even loyal Democrats have raised concerns about Biden's age and mental fitness for the job, and his entrance into the chambers didn't assuage those fears.
Entering later than the scheduled 9:00 PM EST time, the president slowly made his way down the aisles, chatting with the assembled House and Senate members and guests. He looked more like a party guest than a president on a mission. One commenter on X snarked at the POTUS, referring to him as a "rotting corpse." Then Biden caught a glimpse of Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican Congresswoman from Georgia who has been openly critical of the administration and its policies on border control. Greene was defiantly dressed in red with a MAGA baseball cap and accessories memorializing Laken Riley, a young nursing student allegedly murdered by an undocumented immigrant man. Biden shot her an exaggeratedly shocked expression as Greene challenged him to say Riley's name.
It was an awkward start to the evening and put even more pressure on Biden to deliver. Could he rise to the occasion?
President Biden refused to be intimidated
Despite his unimpressive entrance, President Joe Biden was on fire once he began delivering his State of the Union address. He hit all the key issues on Americans' minds — the economy, reproductive rights, the conflicts in Israel and Ukraine — and, most of all, worked to position himself as a stronger candidate than Donald Trump. He referenced "my predecessor" numerous times in the speech, reminding viewers of Trump's chumminess with Vladimir Putin, his indifference to school shooting casualties, and his refusal to say he lost the election after the January 6 insurrection on the Capitol. He also alluded to the former president's divisiveness, saying, "You can't love your country only when you win."
Biden even managed to keep a cool head when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene heckled him about the immigration crisis. He responded by holding up one of Greene's pins with Laken Riley's name and expressed his sorrow at her death. But he went on to add, per CNN, "I will not demonize immigrants saying they are poison in the blood of our country."
Yes, the president had a couple of verbal bobbles (including the pronunciation of Riley's name). But his State of the Union was acknowledged to be energized and commanding. One supporter raved on X (formerly Twitter): "What a speech! OMG! Not a SINGLE person can possibly call @JoeBiden cognitively impaired now. I have NEVER been prouder of my country and of my @POTUS than I was TONIGHT!"