SOTU : Biden launches his 2024 presidential bid

HE DIDN’T mention the 2024 presidential election during his televised State of the Union (SOTU) address on Tuesday (Feb 7). If anything, Democratic President Joe Biden suggested during his 72-minute speech that fighting with his Republican adversaries was the last thing on his mind.

Indeed, President Biden opened his SOTU address before Congress with a call for bipartisan cooperation and challenged the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives to work together with him to finish the job of promoting the recovery of the fragile American economy and bringing together a nation polarised by political divisions. “To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together and find consensus on important things in this Congress as well,” the president said.

But the political narrative that President Biden outlined during the annual joint session of Congress on Tuesday was more complex – and certainly more combative – than implied in his opening statement. It was aimed at putting the Republicans on the defensive by threatening to veto some of their anticipated proposals.