Five reasons this Democrat is hopeful after Biden's State of the Union

President Joe Biden gave his first State of the Union address Tuesday. I, like many Americans, watched to listen, to learn, and to come away with something better for the future. 

And Tuesday, I did, as the president's speech was filled with hope – hope for the future. And, I too, a Democrat, but also an American, woman, wife, and mother first, am hopeful.

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Here are five reasons I am hopeful after President Biden’s State of the Union Address.

Unity

President Biden vowed on the campaign trail to unite this nation. When he was elected, we were very divided. And before his speech Tuesday, we still were. But something happened in that chamber, something that I and many Americans haven’t seen in a long time – unity. 

First, we saw our nation’s elected leaders united on freedom and united on our support for Ukraine and its people. When the president spoke of freedom verses tyranny, echoing the words of Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy, Democrats and Republicans jumped to their feet in long applause. And there were multiple other bipartisan standing ovations. The President spoke of unity not just on Ukraine, but also on crime and on COVID, stating: "Stop looking at COVID as a partisan dividing line. See it for what it is: a God awful disease."

Leaders of the Free World

Although President Biden may not get credit for all he has done in response to the Russian invasion, nor did he speak enough about what he and the United States has done. But Tuesday, if there ever was a question, it was clear - the United States is the leader of freedom throughout the world and President Biden is the leader of the free world. The United States with Biden at the helm has led, and not from behind. Biden led 28 European nations and 30 NATO leaders to speak as one voice in aggressively attacking Russia’s financial banking systems and providing funding and weapons to Ukraine.

In addition to the crippling sanctions placed on Russia, the president announced that the United States will be closing off air space to Russian flights and spoke of Russian oligarchs' assets being seized. President Biden was strong when speaking out against Putin stating that Putin had badly miscalculated his invasion of Ukraine and even outright calling the Russian leader a "dictator" all while warning that the war will leave Russia a weaker nation. The president’s support of Ukraine combined with his "Unity Agenda" was a strong response to Russia’s aggression. After all, Putin figured there would be disunity among our nation and our politicians. Boy, was he wrong! Biden made it clear this is about democracy versus autocracy.

A Way Forward

Going into this State of the Union address, the president had a 44 percent approval rating, up one percent from last week, but still not a big move on the needle. Just months away, we have the midterm elections and, historically, the party in power loses seats in the House and the Senate -- often losing a majority. Now, as a Democrat, I am not going to lie and say that I and others in my party aren’t worried about the poll numbers and aren't concerned about what might happen in the midterms. But in Tuesday's State of the Union, I saw President Biden move back to the middle reclaiming his centrist-moderate roots and as a centrist-moderate Democrat I was very pleased. With this message, the president provided a way forward for my party and for those running for election and re-election this coming November. 

The president perhaps was the clearest on this when he strongly stated we should fund the police, not defund the police; which apparently every single House Democrat stood and applauded for while too many of their "back the blue" GOP counterparts remained seated. Now, many presidents receive a bump in the polls the morning after the State of the Union, but typically they do not have a lasting impact on their approval ratings. But there are definitely signs that the president’s speech might have changed viewers opinions. 

Just look at some post-SOTU polling. CBS shows 78 percent of voters approved of his speech, CNN showed 71 percent with a positive reaction. Overall, 8 in 10 people watching approved of the president’s speech. On inflation, prior to the speech, 48 percent felt the president’s policies would lower inflation but after? 64 percent approved. And the numbers that make me feel a bit optimistic are among Independents who tuned in for the president’s address. In pre-speech interviews, just 30 percent of Independents said President Biden had the right priorities, that number rose to 48 percent after his address. So, if the administration continues to communicate positives, what it has done, and keeps the American people in the loop on what it is planning, as the president did Tuesday, and if Democrats follow his lead and get the word out, campaign aggressively, and point out the problems with the GOP’s pathway, there may not be the bloodbath in the midterms for Democrats.  

Compassion

One of the reasons I chose to be a Democrat after being an Independent for a long time was the compassion I felt the policies and platform of the Democrat party. Tuesday, I saw the leader of my party and our nation exemplify that compassion. First, the president recognized that approximately one million families will be missing someone at the table due to COVID-19. He spoke of the suffering of American families due to increasing inflation and was honest about these issues and costs with which Americans grapple. He spoke about lowering prescription drug prices so that our parents, grandparents and our children will not have to pay ridiculously high prices for medication such as insulin. He boldly stated he had the backs of the LGBTQ youth after legislation passed in states like Florida, Texas, and South Dakota which threaten to protect those very children. 

The president also spoke of cancer and of veterans, who often suffer from cancer which might have been a direct result of things they were exposed to in their line of service. Tuesday I knew I chose the right party and was on the right team especially when I saw Congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert treat the evening like a high school pep rally, especially when the president was speaking of his late son Beau. There was a time when a sitting member of Congress heckling a president during the State of the Union while he spoke about U.S. military casualties and the son he lost to cancer would have been unimaginable and career-ending. 

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Women

And on the first day of Women’s History Month, the President of the United States began his State of the Union address with: "Madam Speaker. Madam Vice President." For the first time ever, a female Vice President and a female Speaker sat behind the president during a State of the Union address. As a woman, who has a daughter, this made me hopeful for the future. I hope I get to see three women on that platform in my lifetime.

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For me, this speech was about unity, and it made me hopeful. As the president spoke of our progress as a nation this past year, of the deep challenges we faced, of our character, our courage, and of our resilience as Americans, I became more optimistic about the future – the future of our nation. As the president said, "this year we are in a better place than last year and next year we will be in even a better place."

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