©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden holds a campaign rally ahead of the state’s Democratic presidential primary, in Las Vegas, Nevada, February 4, 2024. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday evening aimed to remind Americans of the economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to draw a stark contrast between him and the Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Biden, 81, did not mention Trump, 77, by name, but took clear shots at Trump and Republicans who have blocked an aid bill for Ukraine and restricted abortion rights across the country :
UKRAINE “I say this to Congress: we must resist [Vladimir] Put in. Send me a bipartisan national security bill. History is literally watching.”
RIGHT TO ABORTION
“With all due respect, judges, women are not without electoral… or political power. You are about to see how wrong you are about that.”
“Clearly those who brag about overturning Roe v. Wade have no idea of the power of women in America… If Americans would send me a Congress that upholds the right to choose, I promise you: I will reinstate Roe v. Wade as reads the land again.”
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
“America’s return is building a future of American possibility, building an economy from the center up and from the bottom up.”
AGE
“In my career, I’ve been told I’m too young… and I’ve been told I’m too old. Whether young or old, I’ve always known what’s tough.”
OTHER PEOPLE OF HIS AGE
“My life has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy… To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair chance. To not give hate a safe haven. Now some other people my age see a different story : An American story of resentment, revenge and punishment. That’s not me.”
The phrase “revenge and retribution” echoes a speech by Biden marking the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol by Trump loyalists.
VLADIMIR PUTIN
“It wasn’t long ago that a Republican president, Ronald Reagan, thundered ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.’ Now my predecessor, a former Republican president, says to Putin: ‘Do whatever the hell you want.'” “My message to President Putin, who I’ve known for a long time, is simple: We won’t go away. Don’t bow. I don’t I will bow.”