WASHINGTON, March 1 – US President Joe Biden attacked Russian President Vladimir Putin, banned Russian flights from US airspace and led Democrat and Republican lawmakers to a rare demonstration of unity Tuesday in a speech on the state dominated by the union. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Let each of us, if he is able to stand up, stand up and send an unmistakable signal to Ukraine and the world,” Biden called on Democrats and Republicans.
Lawmakers, deeply divided on taxes, voting rights and gun security, stood together to applaud Ukraine, waved Ukrainian flags and applauded in the House of Representatives. Several women members of Congress wore the colors of the flag in yellow and blue.
Deviating his remarks, Biden said of Putin: “He has no idea what’s coming.”
Biden sought to restart his presidency after his first year in office, marked by rapid economic growth and trillions of dollars in new programs, but obsessed with the highest inflation in 40 years and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The annual address to Congress gave Biden a platform to raise his agenda, reassure irritated Americans and seek to increase his slow poll amid terrible warnings his fellow Democrats could face losing Congressional elections in November.
The applause, which was joined by both sides, marked a return to the Washington tradition. Two years ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was so disgusted by then-President Donald Trump’s claims that she defended health insurance in her speech that she tore her spear to pieces behind his back.
“The state of the Union is strong – because you, the American people, are strong,” Biden said. “We are stronger today than we were a year ago.
For the first time in months, members of Congress were not required to wear masks in the halls to protect themselves from the pandemic, a sight that could provide useful optics for the president.
A short CNN survey of speech observers found that 41% responded very positively, 29% somewhat positively and 29% negatively.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has tested Biden’s ability to respond quickly to events without sending American forces into battle and to lead the West’s response to the most tense period in relations with Russia since the end of the Cold War 30 years ago.
The United States and its allies have launched wilting sanctions against Russia’s economy and financial system, Putin himself and his inner circle of oligarchs. Biden has announced that the United States will join other nations in banning Russian flights from US airspace. Read more
The crisis has forced Biden, whose chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last year drew widespread criticism, to reshape the speech to focus on uniting Americans around global efforts to punish Moscow and support Kyiv.
US President Joe Biden hosts a virtual roundtable on critical minerals at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, February 22, 2022. REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque
PUTIN’S SIGHT
He targeted Putin, saying the Kremlin leader had misjudged how things would turn out and that now “Russia’s economy is shaking and only Putin is to blame.”
“He thought he could enter Ukraine and the world would turn upside down. Instead, he encountered a wall of power he had never imagined. He met the Ukrainian people, “he said. “From President Zelensky to every Ukrainian, their fearlessness, their courage, their determination inspire the world.
In a show of support for Ukraine, First Lady Jill Biden was a guest on a speech by Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, who traveled with Biden’s motorcade from the White House to Capitol Hill.
Biden is battling rising inflation, fueled by the Russian crisis, and has been attacked by Republicans, who have accused him of allowing it to spiral out of control. He called on companies to produce more cars and semiconductors in the United States so that Americans can rely less on imports.
The evening did not pass without guerrilla moments. Two far-right Republicans, Lauren Boubert and Marjorie Taylor Green, called for a “build the wall” to express their dissatisfaction with Biden’s immigration policy. “Sit down,” a Democrat MP shouted back.
Biden himself suggested some criticism of his party’s progressive policies, critical of the police killings of black men, saying: “The answer is not to deprive the police. This is to fund the police. Finance them. Finance them. Fund them with resources and training. ..to protect the community. “
Meanwhile, Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat responsible for blocking Biden’s plan to recover better spending, spent the entire speech sitting with Republicans on their side.
Biden has made some progress: the economy has grown faster since 1984 with 6.6 million jobs created, the government has distributed hundreds of millions of vaccines against COVID-19, and he has nominated the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Biden and his fellow Democrats face the prospect of losing control of the House of Representatives and the US Senate in the November 8 by-elections. An increase in Biden’s approval rating could help prevent this and increase his chances of doing well on his agenda.
US approval of Biden’s response to the Russian invasion has risen in the past week, with 43 percent saying they approve of a Reuters / Ipsos poll completed Tuesday, up from 34 percent last week. However, about 47% disapprove of Biden’s response to the crisis, and his overall popularity has remained close to the low point of his presidency in recent weeks.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, in response to Republicans in Biden’s speech, struck at his response to Ukraine’s crisis and inflation.
“The weakness of the world stage comes at a price, and the president’s approach to foreign policy is constantly too small, too late,” she said.
Report by Steve Holland, McKinney Bryce and Andrea Shalal; Additional reports by Jeff Mason, Trevor Hanniat, Jason Lange, James Oliphant, Alexandra Alper, Doina Chiaku, Nandita Bose and David Shepardson; Edited by Heather Timmons and Howard Goller
Our standards: ‘ principles of trust.