My initial impression was that Biden looked like the proverbial “happy warrior” delivering this speech. Sure enough, that phrase was included in two of the NYT reviews.
For a party that claims to speak for workers, the GOP side of the aisle certainly didn’t applaud much when Biden supported labor over capital.
Ross Douthat opined that the theme of the speech was “What Trump promised, I delivered.” He’s right–including the unapologetic protectionism that I personally oppose. This speech was clearly aimed at the disaffected white workers in red states who always insist that the left is deaf to their cries of pain. Whether they will hear him or not remains to be seen.
The standard of conduct at the SOTU clearly has changed. It is starting to look more like Question Time in the UK Parliament. That’s OK as long as everyone understands the rules. Biden didn’t seem to have a problem with it last night.