“Because the soul of this nation is strong, because the people of this nation are strong, the State of the Union is strong.”

With these words US President Joe Biden concluded his second State of the Union Address on 7 February. It was probably one of the longest-ever, lasting over 70 minutes.

The presidential tone was optimistic and self assured regarding the road that the US and the American people have taken since he became president two years ago. It was also self-congratulatory, unlike Biden’s first State of the Union Address a year ago.

Unlike last year, when Biden and the Democrats had been working hard to pass the legislation that mattered most for the administration, this year Biden could boast not only about the important Congressional acts that he had signed into law, but also about the strength and resilience of the US economy.

Seven days before Biden delivered his State of the Union Address, the US Department of Labour announced that the economy had added more than 500,000 jobs in January. In his speech, taking place as usual before a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives, Biden lauded the performance of his administration in this regard, stressing that in the last two years the economy had also created 12 million jobs.

He said that more jobs had been created in two years under his watch than had been created by any other president in four years.

Similarly, he emphasised spending over the next few years that is intended to create high paying jobs that will not require college degrees from applicants, this being seen by some US political observers as part of an electoral outreach to the large proportion of swing voters in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan who did not graduate from college. Biden also talked about a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America.

In discussing the economic progress of the US over the past 24 months, Biden compared the record of his administration to those of previous ones, whether Democrat or Republican. He said that for too many decades the US had imported projects and exported jobs. This had changed over the last two years, he said, when the US had been exporting US products while creating US jobs.

In the same vein, he said that “Buy American” had been an important policy since 1933, but accused all former administrations, both Democrat and Republican, of fighting to get around it. He promised to end this forthwith.

He brought up the question of abortion in the US after the Supreme Court ruling last year and assured American women that he would veto any act by Congress that would slap a national ban on abortion.

The mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old African-American man who lost his life after five police officers beat him severely in Memphis in January, were invited to attend the State of the Union Address this year. They were sitting in the First Lady’s box at the event, and after recognising their presence in the audience and regretting the brutal death of their son, Biden made a convincing call for police accountability, while stressing that the US police were “good, decent, honourable people.”

Nichols’s mother, Row Vaughn, had expressed the hope that “something good must come” from the death of her son. Biden called for a collective commitment to make “the words of Tyre’s mother come true”.

When Biden delivered his first State of the Union Address last year, the Democrats had a majority in the House of Representatives, whose speaker was Nancy Pelosi. But after the midterm elections last November, the Republicans gained a majority and elected Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R- California) as speaker.

Last year, the former Democratic Party speaker was all smiles when Biden gave his State of the Union Address. This year, the new Republican speaker looked sombre. Biden stressed the idea of unity and bipartisanship nonetheless, telling the Republican members of Congress that “if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason why we can’t work together and find consensus on important things in this Congress as well.”

Many observers doubt if the Republicans will heed this call, however.

One of the things that characterised the State of the Union Address in 2023 was that foreign policy issues did not take centre stage.

It came a few days after a US F-22 Raptor fighter shot down a Chinese “spy” balloon over US territory, an incident that led to the postponement of an important visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing. Surprisingly enough, Biden did not mention this incident in his speech, but insisted that the US would defend its sovereignty. In the meantime, he told the joint Congressional session that the US would compete, but did not seek conflict, with China.

He outlined the policy elements of his administration in competing with China, namely investing in US innovation and industries, investing in US alliances, and “modernising [the US] military to safeguard stability and deter aggression.” He spoke of “Putin’s invasion” of Ukraine and called it a “test for America and the world.” He said that the US had led the world after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine last February and united NATO as well as building a “global coalition.”

Having hosted a virtual summit meeting of democracies last year, Biden reiterated that under his administration democracies have become stronger whereas autocracies have been “weakened.”

One key phrase in his State of the Union Address with implications for US relations with foreign powers was the warning that “it’s never been a good bet to bet against America.” Coming from an administration that has reaffirmed and prided itself on many occasions on its commitment to multilateralism, this warning sounded a bit out of place.

The way Biden explained in plain terms the foreign policy of his administration should leave no one in any doubt that the world is dealing with an imperial US. The American Republic and its founding ideals seem to have been relegated to the history books. Our relations with the imperial US in an emerging multipolar world should be adjusted accordingly.

The writer is former assistant foreign minister.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 February, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly