Full Speech: President Biden's 2024 State of the Union address President Joe Biden gave a forceful speech highlighting his work on economic issues for the middle class in his State of the Union ...
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Panglossian optimism is not going to lead to unified Democratic government in the 2024 elections, as so many of my political friends seem to think and as so many MSM pundits and D-Party people gushed after Biden's State of the Union speech.
In addition, so long as the focus remains on Biden-Trump, where Joe presents small answers to big problems (i.e., climate, border, student debt, US-armed and -funded Israeli genocide, wealth inequality, SCOTUS) and Trump promises sweeping change [yes, Orban-style fascism masked as 'MAGA-vision'], Donald's "ducks" will turn out while 2020 Biden backers are increasingly depressed or defecting. This is especially the case with Arab-Americans, Muslim-Americans, Black and Brown males, younger and working class Americans.
Biden's SOTU address was a blown opportunity to reset the terms and tone of the 2024 election. It was not the uplifting, game-changing call to arms as it needed to be, despite the predictable media spin. Think FDR's 8 Dec 1941 "Day of Infamy Address" or JFK's "Moon Shot Speech" on 25 May 1961, both of which galvanized the nation for a higher purpose. Had to happen, didn't happen.
Strategically speaking, I believe more than ever that our best shot at pro-democratic, unified, national government is either for Biden to anoint an energetic, unchained and visionary successor (team) at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 19-22 August, that'll electrify the electorate, or for the Democrats to choreograph an "open" DNC with a handful of viable candidates.
In either case, Biden would need to own the decision for it to work. Whether mid-summer polling numbers or health concerns move him, or an Obama-led intervention (using the same data) convinces him, Joe Biden must claim the idea as his own and then lead the ticket transition with conviction.
The serious quiet (DNC) and public (e.g., Ezra Klein-led) planning needs to begin now. The task of reversing the non-stop fascist coup-building process (from post-2020 election to January 6th to now) and establishing unified pro-democratic and progressive governance must engage every thinking citizen, from DNC organizers to election workers and to voters and those ineligible to vote.
In it to win it.
