Photo: Saul Loeb/Reuters

In his first State of the Union address, Joe Biden sets out a practical response to domestic and international challenges from Coronavirus to inflation to the Ukraine conflict.

Facing Republican obstruction of his domestic programmes — and with the opposition of Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema dooming his $2 trillion Build Back Better social and environmental budget — Biden spent much of the speech addressing Russia’s war on Ukraine, where the Administration is support by most GOP legislators.

The President pledged support of Ukraine’s resistance:

Six days ago, Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the very foundations of the free world, thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways.

But he badly miscalculated. He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead, he met with a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined. He met the Ukrainian people.

Bolstering the international sanctions against Moscow, Biden announced the closure of US airspace to Russian flight, and he pledged further seizure of the assets of the wealthiest Russians and those close to Putin. He noted that the US and partners have agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from strategic petroleum reserves to contain the rise in gasoline prices.

As Biden introduced Ukraine’s Ambassador Oksana Markarova, sitting next to First Lady Jill Biden, Republicans joined Democrats in a rare display of solidarity with legislators jumping to their feet in an ovation. Many waved Ukrainian flags and some wore the Ukraine national colors of blue and yellow.

Biden summarized:

Putin’s latest attack on Ukraine was premeditated and totally unprovoked. He rejected repeated, repeated efforts at diplomacy. He thought the West and NATO wouldn’t respond. He thought he could divide us at home, in this chamber and this nation. He thought he could divide us in Europe as well.

But Putin was wrong. We are ready. We are united.

A Revised Domestic Path

The President implicitly replaced Build Back Better with proposals for individual parts of the package, such as expanded child care, elder care, pre-kindergarten education, climate change initiatives, and cuts in the price of prescription drugs.

At the same time, he acknowledged the highest US inflation rate in more than 40 years: “My top priority is getting prices under control.”

Biden portrayed progress but not victory over Coronavirus, which has claimed more than 950,000 lives. He said, “We’ve reached a new moment in the fight against Covid-19,” receiving bipartisan applause for declaring that schools should remain open.

Let’s use this moment to reset. So stop looking at Covid as a partisan dividing line. See it for what it is: a God-awful disease. Let’s stop seeing each other as enemies and start seeing each other for who we are: fellow Americans….

I know some are talking about living with Covid-19,” he said. “But tonight I say that we never will just accept living with Covid-19. We’ll continue to combat the virus as we do other diseases.

With options to limit inflation limit inflation hindered by supply-chain issues, emergence from the pandemic, and the Ukraine war’s effect on oil and natural gas, Biden appealed to US companies:

Lower your cost, not your wages. That means make more cars and semiconductors in America. More infrastructure and innovation in America. More goods moving faster and cheaper in America. More jobs where you can earn a good living in America. Instead of relying on foreign supply chains, let’s make it in America.

Twenty-one months after the police killing of George Floyd sparked marches for reform, Biden maneuvered between the calls to “Defund the Police” and the concern with effective measures against crime. He emphasized community policing and supported reform but not reduced funding of forces.

Most Republicans politely listened, but Biden was heckled by the far-right Reps. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, both of whom support the QAnon conspiracy-theory movement.

When Biden spoke about immigration reform, Boebert tried to start the chant, “Build the Wall”, but was joined only by Greene. As Biden paid tribute US troops in flag-draped coffins, Boebert again shouted out. Biden moved on, remembering his son Beau, a veteran who died of brain cancer.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell navigated between backing of Biden over Ukraine and continued opposition on the domestic front: “I think there’s broad support for the president in what he’s doing now. Our biggest complaint is, what took him so long?”