Irish Examiner view: Focus will not be on the rivals

US president Joe Biden will deliver his address tonight. Picture: AP

US president Joe Biden faces opportunity and peril in equal measure when he delivers the annual State of the Union address to the Houses of Congress tonight.

Unlike many of his predecessors — especially the one immediately before him — Biden will not use the platform of the annual speech to blow-torch rivals and perceived enemies and trumpet their own (very modest) economic successes. 

Rather he will, as has been his trademark, try to parlay the many positives of the American economy and the effectiveness of bipartisanship in a ruptured political landscape.

Unlike last year, when he had Nancy Pelosi looking over his shoulder from the seat of the House Speaker, this time around he will be watched by the new Republican incumbent of that role, Kevin McCarthy.

Biden’s successes in office thus far have reflected his decades in the trenches of legislative endeavour, but dealing with a Congress under McCarthy’s control will test all his experience and political nous.

Unfortunately for the Republican leader, he is politically at the mercy of various cabals of House Republicans who want him to bend to their will; that is a political situation Biden’s White House has been only to willing to exploit for its own ends.

McCarthy’s weakness is something Biden can take advantage of, but the peril he faces is failing to come to a deal with the Republican leader on America’s debt ceiling and the
certain inevitability of recession if the federal government defaults on its debt.

Biden’s deal-making prowess was already legendary before his presidency — he cut a debt ceiling deal with Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell back in 2011 — but the dynamics are different now, especially as McCarthy does not have a firm grip on the politics of his party. 

Biden’s speech tonight will resonate on the importance of getting deals done.