The NPR Politics Podcast - At The State Of The Union, Biden Wooed Moderates And Slammed Putin

Episode Date: March 2, 2022

In his speech, the president emphasized policies with broad, bipartisan support, including sanctions against Russian oligarchs and military aid to Ukraine. He also drew Republican applause when he called for more funding for police departments. Many priorities popular among the Democratic base, including voting rights legislation and climate action, got very little air time during Biden's remarks.This episode: White House correspondent Scott Detrow, White House correspondent Ayesha Rascoe, and congressional correspondent Susan Davis.Connect:Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Find and support your local public radio station.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for NPR and the following message come from the Kauffman Foundation, providing access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity, regardless of race, gender, or geography. Kauffman.org. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Scott Detrow. I cover the White House. I'm Aisha Roscoe. I also cover the White House. And I'm Susan Davis. I cover Congress. And it is 10.51 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, March 1st, and we're taping about 45 minutes or so

after President Biden came to the House chamber to deliver his first State of the Union. And my report is this. The State of the Union is strong because you, the American people, are strong. We are stronger than you. After a year where Biden mostly stuck to strict COVID protocols, it was notable that Biden spoke before a crowded and mostly mask-free chamber. And of course, it was notable that Biden gave his most high-profile speech of the year at a moment when Russian forces are pummeling Ukraine and the rest of the world is economically isolating Russia.

Putin has unleashed violence and chaos. But while he may make gains on the battlefield, he'll pay a continuing high price over the long run. And a pound of Ukrainian people, proud, proud people, pound for pound, ready to fight with every inch of earnings that they have. They've known 30 years of independence, have repeatedly shown that they will not tolerate anyone who tries to take their country backwards. And I think it's best to start there. Ayesha, what stood out to you about how President Biden talked about this

big moment of global tension and danger? Well, you know, it was, and we say this often, but it was a very traditional American leadership speech. It was saying the U.S. is the leader of the free world and that democratic nations in the West are going to stand up to Putin and, you know, and that the U.S. is going and its allies are going to make him pay economically for what he has done in Ukraine. And that when it comes to the military, that they are going to defend NATO territory, not going into Ukraine, but they're going to defend NATO territory. And I thought it was very, um,

it stood out when he said he's going to make the oligarchs in Russia. We're going to come after your ill gotten goods. We are going to, yeah, your yachts. We're going to seize them. We are like really trying to put the pressure on Russia at this moment.

I think Biden started out, the speech started out at his strongest in terms of how it was received in the room. Obviously, a lot of partisanship up here, a lot of hostility towards the president from the Republican side of the aisle. But his comments about the NATO alliance, certainly about cracking down on oligarchs,

got some of the biggest, most robust bipartisan standing ovations from the night. And then as the speech went on, it sort of went into more familiar partisan territory where you had Democrats sort of whooping and clapping and yelling and a lot of sort of sedate Republicans on the other side. And before we turn to that, the only other thing I would note about the Ukraine part of the speech is we started to hear from Biden steps that he country, there are going to be economic consequences. Biden talked about releasing more strategic oil reserves, and there was a little bit of bracing the country for the fact that gas prices are going to go up as this goes on. But let's shift to the rest of the speech. Ayesha, I'll start with you. What else jumped

out to you about the message that Biden delivered tonight? Well, you talk about rising energy prices, even before the crisis in Ukraine, the invasion of Ukraine, Americans have been dealing with rising prices, and they are not happy about it. It is affecting people's pocketbooks. And it's one of those things that is dragging down Biden's approval rating. So he did talk about how, you know, he is going to try to address this. He's going to try to get the U.S. to produce more. He had this quote where he talked about the choice on how to deal with inflation.

One way to fight inflation is to drive down wages and make Americans poor. I think I have a better idea to fight inflation. Lower your costs, not your wages. What he's saying is that he as president is going to do something about this. The problem, of course, is that presidents don't have a lot of control over inflation, but Americans want presidents to do something about inflation. And he is promising that he's going to do something. So he's going to have to deliver somehow. And we've heard him in recent months kind of reframe some of the policy items he wants to

get passed, but have been stalled as things to address inflation. And to me, the most striking, like I'm trying to put a round peg in a square hole or maybe it's the other way around thing, was trying to reframe the enormous climate and energy part of Build Back Better that was stalled. That would be Biden's big push to lower carbon emissions, to really change the energy economy, reframing that as an inflation tool, saying it would eventually lower Americans' energy prices. Like, that is, I guess, a side effect. That is certainly not the main intent of that package. Well, you know, it's, look, it's like they wanted to get climate in there somehow, but they had to talk about inflation, so they threw them together.

You know what I'm saying? It's funny, too, because he didn't ever use the words build back better. Right. Like he didn't refer to the plan that failed, but he still did talk about and promote so many of the pillars of it. Climate change being one. He also talked, you know, about, you know, universal pre-K education, paid leave, supplements for child care costs. Like a lot of the ideas of Build Back Better were in the speech. It's like he was like repitching it to the audience.

With the focus on the specifics that are individually popular. But to shift a little bit, Sue, I want to talk to you about another big political theme of the speech. You've done some reporting lately on how much Democrats could be in danger over COVID policies, over people just being sick and tired of mask mandates and school restrictions and things like that. And you heard Biden try to turn the page tonight. What what did you hear from that part of the speech? Well, the president certainly tried to empathize with the country, right? I mean, he talked about the sort of emotional state

of the country. And I know you're tired, frustrated, and exhausted. That doesn't even count the close to a million people who sit at a dining room table or a kitchen table and look at an empty chair because they lost somebody. It was really interesting the way he talked about the pandemic because he didn't exactly declare it over, right? But in some ways, it was him trying to say, like, we're in a new phase, we're in a new chapter.

But I also know this, because of the progress we've made, because of your resilience and the tools that we have been provided by this Congress. Tonight, I can say we're moving forward safely, back to a more normal routines. This has been a continuation of things. You know, we saw just last week, the Centers for Disease Control eased its mask mandates. They eased the mask mandates up here on the Hill conveniently right before the speech, the day before the speech. And I think that the president is trying to send the message like go out and live your lives, get back to normal. And I think the Democrats do feel a lot of political tension on this front as being seen as the party that was holding on to mandates, that was holding on to sort of like proof of vaccination, all these things that people have been frustrated about. And it was and have moved on in their own lives way more than, you know, Joe Biden necessarily has.

Yeah. But Biden tonight was like, keep your kids in school, go back to work, get back in your offices, like get back to normal was sort of his message, which I thought was interesting and also potentially a bit risky. I mean, this pandemic has proven very hard to predict time and time again. And if we are knocking on wood, let's hope this doesn't happen. But if another variant or things happen that we have another downturn in the pandemic, these are the kind of words I think that could come back and haunt them and potentially make the president look quite clueless about trying to project confidence about something that we just can't really predict. And it is Biden's base that would be most punishing about not being serious

about COVID, right? Like, yes, it is the Democrats that are, who even now will be concerned about lifting the mask mandates and things like that. So he, it's his base that would really make him pay the price and be unhappy with that. He did talk about, you know, the idea that they're going to try to make antivirals more drugs more readily available so that if you test positive, like at a pharmacy, you can get a drug immediately. So there, and you know, that they're going to, you know, have ways, you know, vaccines and stuff to deal with new variants. So he did acknowledge that in his speech. And my quick thought on this, and I'm going to tie another random part of the speech, when he talked about policing and repeatedly said, you know, fund the police, don't defund

the police, and talked about all the things he supports when it comes to that. It was kind of almost like a jujitsu move of taking things where his party sees them as political liabilities, things that Republicans have attacked him for, and framing them in a way where Republicans had to clap and agree with him, saying, you know, masks are coming off, schools are staying open, go back to work. And then, of course, Republicans clap for that. Later on, when he talked about policing, talking about it again. Sue, you know, this scenario where Republicans think it's a big political advantage for them talking about in a way where Steve Scalise and Kevin McCarthy had to stand up and clap. We should all agree the answer is not to defund the police. It's to fund the police. And not just on funding the police. I think also I would put in that column the way he talked about securing the border. I mean, this to me was this was not a base speech. This to me was Joe Biden trying to be sort of his truest self, which is that middle of the road, regular guy from Scranton talking to regular folks about regular things.

And I think the audience to me for this speech tonight, he's really trying to reach out to sort of independent voters. I mean, if you even, we talked about this in the podcast last week, but when you look at Joe Biden's poll numbers among independent voters, they're in the toilet. I mean, he is profoundly unpopular with people who don't identify with either party right now. And this to me was the kind of way you try to talk when you're trying to talk to those people, like not the hardcore partisans. And it was very reasonable. I imagine that there are a lot of progressives out there who are rather frustrated tonight that the president didn't hammer on things like climate change. And we could talk more about this too, but I also thought it was striking that he didn't talk more about voting rights. I mean,

he mentioned it, but it was not with the same sort of like passion and intensity that you're hearing from most corners of the Democratic Party right now. All right. More after a quick break. And we're back. And before we get back into the speech and the policy, Sue, you are at the State of the Union, at the Capitol. A little bit of a change based on the last few years, but that is exactly what I want to talk about.

Democrats, especially as we were talking about, kind of tried to symbolically turn the page. This was a by and large mask free crowded event with lots of hugging, lots of touching, lots of back to normal at the Capitol. And at the same time, you had the big security fence back up. So I'm wondering what it was physically like in the building tonight. Yeah, I mean, it was certainly closer to normal, but it was still a weird State of the Union. I mean, no lawmakers had guests. They were still socially distanced in the chamber. And this is something I think a lot about because I think so many people in the country are not living lives driven by the pandemic anymore. And like the visual image of your government still sort of being socially distanced and adhering to different.

Everyone had to take a covid test to be able to enter tonight. It's a little bit different. I'll be curious to see how this sort of was interpreted by people who are watching it. But it's it's been tense up here. You know, Congress is a different place. Certainly after January 6th, I think the relationships between lawmakers have been particularly nasty. We even saw that a little bit tonight in the speech. You know, the president at one point was heckled by Lauren Boebert, who's

a Republican from Colorado. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who's a Republican from Georgia, who's obviously gotten herself in all kinds of trouble, was being sort of dramatic at like eye rolling and sort of, you know, being visibly sort of annoyed at the president in a speech. And because of sort of, you know, being visibly sort of annoyed at the president in his speech. And because of sort of outside threats, they put up fencing back around the Capitol. I think that the Capitol Police and broader security apparatus is very mindful of any potential threats to the Capitol. So there's sort of a heavy nature to this speech still going on and having the entirety of the government in one place. But fortunately, you know, on the whole, things went over well, as I'm happy to report as the person sitting in the Capitol tonight. But there's still a long way to go in terms of relations up here. And I think it's good to be sort of skeptical that, you know, Biden didn't, to my ear, announce any major new big

policy asks. But, you know, if it's relaying a lot of the stuff he's already asking for, he shouldn't be too optimistic about what's going to be delivered to his desk, certainly before the midterm elections. So, Aisha, let's get to that. Joe Biden usually gives speeches that are like 20 to 25 minutes in length pretty consistently. This one was an hour and change. And still there was a lot of stuff he didn't talk about, stuff he downplayed. What was the most interesting missing or minimized thing to you? So, I mean, one of the things, obviously, was, of course, voting rights. He mentioned voting rights, but it was a passing reference. It certainly wasn't just, you know, given any real space in the speech to breathe and to say this is democracy on the line. And so to not do that, it is a

recognition that there really isn't any chance of that passing with the current makeup of Congress. Like it's just not going to happen. He also, he talked about funding the police and police accountability. He did not talk about explicitly passing police reform legislation through Congress. That's another thing that these were things that were very important to his base. They were also particularly important to the black community, which he had said that he would stand behind and that he would get things done for. And I'm sure that people will bring that up that that Biden did not deliver on that. Yeah, there was a part of me towards the end, especially where I was like, man, he's just really putting up what could possibly be the most popular things to the country. I mean, the

unifying calls he made for it was like, let's support our veterans who have been hurt in war zones. Yeah, let's beat cancer. Let's fight the opioid addiction, mental health for children, right? Like, let's, let's help our kids. Like he really did try to land on these like big unifying Yeah, fight the opioid addiction. Like it definitely felt to me like Biden was just trying to be the unifier he sort of ran on and tried to be. And that has had very mixed results, obviously. But it was certainly aimed at that effort. recent years, everyone and their mom has a response, you know, that they all post members of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, lots of responses. But there's one official response that gets a lot of attention, usually goes to a rising star tonight. It was Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds speaking for Republicans. What was the main theme of her speech. I mean, you know, her focus was on, you know, making the case that Biden, you know, is doing a bad job because of inflation, because of all the issues we talked about, the problems that they're facing. And instead of moving America forward,

it feels like President Biden and his party have sent us back in time to the late 70s and early 80s. When runaway inflation was hammering families, a violent crime wave was crashing our cities and the Soviet Army was trying to redraw the world issue. And she in Iowa, that was one of the states that had kids go back and required, it was the first state to require kids to go back to in-person learning. And so she touched on those, that frustration that people have had with the pandemic, with rising prices and said, look, Democrats are not helping you right now. Basically, you know, you need to get some Republicans in office. So that's what she did. All right. And before we go, we do have one more piece of news to talk about.

And it's NPR news. And Aisha, you got a really exciting, really big promotion last week. Yes, I will be the host of Weekend Edition Sunday. It's really crazy. That's what I just keep saying to myself. But, you know, I got the job, so they're going to let me do it. So I'm grateful for that. I am going to be around, but just for a couple more days.

This is my last week at the White House. And then towards the end of March, I will be my first weekend edition Sunday. We are really going to miss you, but I know that we just can't compete with Will Shorts and the Puzzle. Well, you know,

and I'm not good at puzzles, so I don't know what I'm going to do. And you'll be on the show a while more before you go. Yes. But we're very proud of you, and it's really exciting. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right.

You know what? I've got to get up first tomorrow, so I'm going to end this podcast now. We will be back in your feeds tomorrow. But for now, I'm Scott Detrow. I cover the White House. I'm Aisha Roscoe. I also cover the White House. I'm Ayesha Roscoe. I also cover the White House. I'm Susan Davis.

I cover Congress. Thank you for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.