What Went Down During President Biden’s Speech To Congress

This is much more like a standard State of the Union with a policy laundry list — with some 100 days stuff mixed in — than a speech that digs into systemic issues.

As Hakeem mentioned, it’s typical for presidents to play both sides about racial equality and supporting law enforcement in speeches like these. But as Perry and I wrote last summer, Democrats are increasingly willing to acknowledge racial discrimination, including in policing. So Biden’s remarks today about these issues might be typical, but the Democratic Party has changed. I was surprised to see his rhetoric not match those changes.

Americans are pretty skeptical of foreign involvement these days, so Biden’s decision to remove American troops from Afghanistan polls extremely well. Who knows about the actual impact it will have on national security, but politically it was a popular decision.