Beleaguered Biden scopes out fresh start

WASHINGTON－Despite a year that saw his ambitious plans stall and his approval ratings plunge, US President Joe Biden delivered his first State of the Union address on Tuesday in an effort to turn the page and prepare his party for midterm congressional elections in November.

With nearly 80 million COVID-19 infections and close to 1 million deaths in the United States, Biden marked a "new moment" in which the coronavirus will become more manageable and masks will be required less often.

He acknowledged that people are "tired, frustrated, and exhausted" and pleaded with the country to finally stop viewing the coronavirus as a political fault line.

He also elided any mention of the chaotic US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan last year.

He did not mention the words "build back better", the name of his stalled legislative agenda, instead talking about "building a better America". He insisted he would confront inflation, promising that he has a "better plan" to reduce cost increases than his Republicans rivals.

The president's remarks came as stubbornly high inflation in the country is eroding businesses' profit margins and households' purchasing power, casting a shadow over growth prospects.

According to data released by the Commerce Department on Friday, personal consumption expenditures, the US Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, rose 6.1 percent annually in January, the fastest annual pace in four decades.

The address also came at a time when debt as a share of the economy is on track to surpass record levels within a decade. Biden blamed the previous administration for ballooning the deficit "with tax cuts for the very wealthy and corporations", and renewed his push for reform of the tax system.

It will not be an easy sell as just one speech is unlikely to have any dramatic impact on how voters view Biden's job performance.

Despite the lasting effect of the Capitol riot and many analysts' concerns over democracy's inexorable decline in the US, Biden proclaimed that "democracies are rising to the moment, and the world is clearly choosing the side of peace and security".

A glance around Capitol Hill on Tuesday revealed mixed progress.

Although nearly 2,000 people are still dying every day from the coronavirus, masks were made optional on Capitol Hill in time for the speech. Attendance was less limited than when Biden spoke to a joint session of Congress a few months after taking office in January 2021.

But law enforcement reinstalled a security fence around the Capitol "out of an abundance of caution" because of concerns that demonstrations that could disrupt Washington.

Biden repeated his call to pass voting rights legislation, but he spent more of his speech singling out politically popular proposals such as limiting the cost of prescription drugs.

Biden will follow the State of the Union address by traveling to Superior, Wisconsin, which is home to the 61-year-old Blatnik Bridge. More than 33,000 vehicles use the bridge daily to cross the St. Louis Bay, even though its deteriorating conditions mean that large trucks are prohibited. This is a challenge because the bridge is a key connection to Duluth, Minnesota, and its port, the country's largest freshwater hub for international and domestic cargo.

It is part of a vexing balance for him to strike, with his attention focused on the rapidly unfolding conflict in Ukraine and persuading people that he also has trained his focus on issues closer to home.

Only 29 percent of people in the US think the nation is on the right track, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in February.

Biden's approval rating has fallen to 44 percent, down from 60 percent in July last year.

So Biden spent the evening essentially asking for a fresh start, born of the most serious conflict with Russia in a generation, and another chance to explain his domestic agenda.

"He's got his back to the wall, and he's put his party's back against the wall," said Whit Ayres, a veteran Republican pollster.

Agencies - Xinhua