Biden Focused on Defending Democracy, the Economy and the Border

He smirked. He corrected himself. He sort of rolled his eyes. He looked down. He sighed. He shook his head. He swallowed. He smiled again. He looked amused and patient when he clearly intended to look serious and not pleased at all.

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The Many Faces of Mike Johnson

The speaker of the House, who was seated behind President Biden, used his facial expressions to convey his reactions to the State of the Union address.

I want competition with China, not conflict. He did nothing on guns when he was president. India, Australia, Japan. People pay these smugglers 8,000 bucks to get across the border because they know if they get by. And may God protect our troops. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

To be fair, another performer had seemed to miss his own cue first.

As is customary, Mr. Johnson banged the gavel when Mr. Biden stepped up to the rostrum. And when Mr. Biden began, “Mr. Speaker,” Mr. Johnson briefly leaned forward, as if expecting Mr. Biden to give him the opportunity to deliver the ceremonial introduction of the president.

Instead, Mr. Biden launched right into his speech, and Mr. Johnson nodded politely and took his seat.

He then had the high privilege and distinct honor of trying to control his boyish facial expressions for more than 70 minutes on national television.

“I am afraid he may have practiced it in front of a mirror,” said the presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.

Mr. Johnson had urged his fellow Republicans, ahead of the speech, to respect the decorum of the event, and to refrain from the disruptions that have become commonplace in recent years. He more or less succeeded at keeping his party under control.

But his own brows, lips and eyes were another matter.

Part of Mr. Johnson’s challenge was one of contrast. Seated to his right, Vice President Kamala Harris managed to appear both relaxed and disciplined, her face always on message.

As long as there have been cameras trained on presidents, House speakers have been more than just State of the Union scenery. They are often silent characters — particularly when they belong to the president’s opposition.

Paul Ryan joked that he practiced his own poker face for former President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union, Mr. Ryan’s first as speaker.

Nancy Pelosi was a foil for former President Donald J. Trump, alternating a sarcastic clap with an unflinching scowl. At the end of Mr. Trump’s 2020 address, she calmly stood up and tore his printed remarks in half, like a dissatisfied customer rejecting a bill.

And Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., in 1984, could be seen over Ronald Reagan’s left shoulder, leaning backward, rolling his papers into a tight tube, which he put down only to applaud.

Mr. Johnson did not touch the papers in front of him, and while he sometimes nodded in approval, he appeared to applaud Mr. Biden only sparingly — most notably, after Mr. Biden said no American soldiers would be on the ground in Ukraine, and when Mr. Biden quoted Reagan.

While Ms. Harris rose frequently to join standing ovations by her fellow Democrats, Mr. Johnson got no such exercise.

Still, at the end of the speech, Mr. Johnson both applauded and rose to his feet, shook the president’s hand, buttoned his suit jacket, and — as Mr. Biden lingered in the well of the House chamber — looked very ready to go home.

“No one’s going to talk about cognitive impairment now!” Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, told the president after the speech, referring to all the concern about Mr. Biden’s age and his ability to handle the demands of the job.

“I kind of wish sometimes I was cognitively impaired,” replied Mr. Biden, perhaps talking about the speech he had just delivered. Or the stress of his job. Or House Republicans.

For at least 25 minutes after completing his State of the Union address on Thursday, Mr. Biden lingered with well-wishers who had gathered to praise a speech that had been energetic and more political than in previous years.

The president seemed happy he was done with his high-wire act, and for a while it looked like he would never leave. Speaker Mike Johnson and Vice President Kamala Harris chatted idly behind Mr. Biden as he circulated.

Finally, a House protocol officer told Mr. Biden that many in the chamber could not leave until he did.

“Are they Democrats or Republicans?” the president joked back, according to a reporter who saw the interaction.

Eventually, Mr. Johnson gaveled the session closed even with Mr. Biden still in the chamber.

The moment was a homecoming of sorts for Mr. Biden, who spent 36 years commuting to Capitol Hill as a Democratic senator from Delaware. He seemed eager for the praise. Before the speech, his allies had said he was craving interaction with people outside the gilded cage of the White House.

“As president, he doesn’t ever get the chance to just stop by and just engage with people,” Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware and an ally of Mr. Biden’s, said in an interview this week. The presidency, Mr. Coons said, had “made it harder than ever for him to just connect with people casually.”

Which is precisely what Mr. Biden did as the House chamber emptied and he stayed behind. He shook hands with some House members, including Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington and the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

“I need you to bring that energy that you brought tonight,” Representative Nikema Williams, Democrat of Georgia, told him.

“I have too much energy,” the president replied. “That’s the problem.”

Finally, almost a half-hour after the speech ended, Mr. Biden departed a mostly empty chamber and headed home. He spent some time at the White House greeting supporters before finally going inside just before midnight.

Police officers quickly removed Mr. Nikoui, 51, from the gallery where he was a guest of Representative Brian Mast, Republican of Florida. Mr. Biden paused briefly during the interruption but moved on quickly.

A statement from the Capitol Police said officers had warned Mr. Nikoui to stop, and when he did not, they removed him from the chamber.

In the statement, officers said: “This is a routine charge on Capitol Hill. People who illegally demonstrate/disrupt Congress typically are released after they pay a $50 fine, so the misdemeanor charge is resolved without going to court.”

Mr. Nikoui has been a vocal critic of Mr. Biden since the death of his son. In August 2021, he told The Daily Beast that he blamed the president for the tragedy.

“They sent my son over there as a paper pusher and then had the Taliban outside providing security,” Mr. Nikoui said at the time, according to the news organization.

“I blame my own military leaders,” he said, adding, “Biden turned his back on him. That’s it.”

Here’s a sampling of commentary from CNN, Fox News and MSNBC:

CNN

Dana Bash, chief political correspondent: “They wanted him to be a fighter, and, boy, a fight did he deliver.”

John King, chief national correspondent: “He came out punching and came out swinging right from the beginning.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin, political commentator: “Joe Biden basically had to show up and not keel over on the dais tonight. And he massively outperformed, just objectively. There was some stumbling, there was some coughing, and he’s prone to some kinds of stutter. But he did show energy. He showed the ability to get through a long speech.”

Van Jones, political commentator: “I thought that was a remarkable, fiery, powerful, vigorous guy. And I think it gives people a lot of confidence that this guy might be able to go the distance.”

Fox News

Brit Hume, chief political analyst: “There was plenty of stumbling and slurring of words and all the rest of it that we’ve come to associate with him. I don’t think he got out from under that at all. I’m not sure if a person sitting at home tonight looking at the guy would think he was anything other than an angry old man. I’m not sure it was the kind of energy the public would want to see at a time like this in this country.”

Dana Perino, anchor: “I do think this was a polarizing, divisive speech, and it was meant to be.”

Harold Ford Jr., co-host, “The Five”: “He brought a lot of vigor, a lot of energy.”

Sean Hannity, host: “He spent most of the night shouting, speeding through his speech, and clearly overcompensating from the normal everyday Joe who can barely string two sentences together. … Tonight, America saw, let’s say, a very different Joe Biden. I might call him ‘Jacked-Up Joe.’ ”

MSNBC

Nicolle Wallace, host: “This was his ‘How About Dem Apples’ speech. … Everybody knows that this was a great speech. And everybody knows that if this is the message going into the next eight months, polls will soon reflect that and this will be a real fight.”

Chris Hayes, host: “It transcended my expectations. I did not think this would be as aggressive, as sharp.”

Joy-Ann Reid, host: “I thought the speech was very ‘high caffeine.’ I think Joe Biden woke up this morning, had a cup of coffee, and had his Wheaties. He was definitely there to fight.”

Lawrence O’Donnell, host: “I’ve never brought that much energy to the 10 p.m. hour.”

Mr. Biden’s remarks to Ms. Greene caused the president to veer from his prepared script. Mr. Biden had originally intended to draw attention to Donald J. Trump — his Republican predecessor and likely opponent in November — and his caustic language about immigrants. He had been expected to say in his speech: “I will not demonize immigrants saying they ‘poison the blood of our country’ as he said in his own words,” referring to the former president, who was sharply criticized late last year for repeating language that resembled that used by leaders like Hitler or Mussolini, as well as white supremacists.

But Ms. Greene, a Republican from Georgia, heckled Mr. Biden before he got to that part of the speech during a segment on immigration policy. Mr. Biden was calling on Republicans to support a bipartisan border deal that had been negotiated in the Senate but abandoned by Republicans who had asked for the legislation.

Wearing a bright red “Make America Great Again” hat and pins on her lapel referring to Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia who was killed in February, Ms. Greene shouted at Mr. Biden, who had picked up one of the pins honoring Ms. Riley on his walk to the rostrum to give his speech.

Mr. Biden then turned his speech to address the killing. Authorities have charged a Venezuelan migrant — who crossed into the United States illegally and was then released on parole — in the case.

“An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right,” Mr. Biden said to Ms. Greene, using a term to refer to the migrant that is favored by Republicans and criticized as dehumanizing by many Democrats.

But he quickly added there are thousands of other murders who he appeared to attribute to “legals,” people who legally reside in the United States. Mr. Biden and White House officials have made similar comments on migrant crime in the past.

Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates criticized Mr. Biden for engaging with Ms. Greene on the subject, and for using the word “illegal” to refer to undocumented migrants, many of whom are seeking political asylum or a humanitarian parole.

“We were shocked to hear the president echo the words of anti-immigrant extremists,” the National Immigrant Justice Center said in a statement. “Manipulating a personal tragedy for political gain in this way is dangerous. Conflating immigration status with criminality is racist and dehumanizing.”

Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, similarly criticized Mr. Biden, saying he “parroted dehumanizing Republican rhetoric about immigrants.”

Representative Pramila Jayapal, the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said to an Associated Press reporter that she wished “he hadn’t engaged with Marjorie Taylor Greene and use the word illegal.”

“As a proud immigrant, I’m extremely disappointed to hear President Biden use the word ‘illegal,’” said Representative Chuy García, Democrat of Illinois.

Mr. Trump had deplored the death of Ms. Riley, but even border authorities who worked for the former president during his term in office have said most migrants who cross the border are vulnerable families fleeing poverty and violence rather than criminals. Studies have also repeatedly shown that migrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the United States.

“To her parents, I say my heart goes out to you. Having lost children myself, I understand,” Mr. Biden continued.

Mr. Biden went on to continue his speech, returning to his prepared remarks. “I will not demonize immigrants, saying they are poisoning the blood of our country,” he said to applause.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs contributed reporting.

With the exception of 2018, when some Democratic women wore black in support of the #MeToo movement, many women have worn white at State of the Union addresses since.

In 2019, Democratic women in white pantsuits and blouses leaped up to applaud and high-five one another when Mr. Trump said a record number of women were serving in Congress, a century after the 19th Amendment was passed, giving women the right to vote.

The outfits have evolved since 2017. At this year’s State of the Union, in addition to their white suit jackets, some women wore kente cloth, a traditional African textile, and others had pink accents, such as fuchsia pants and flower pins.

White, symbolizing purity, along with purple and gold, were the official colors of the National National Woman’s Party and the suffragist movement.

In decades past, women in politics have worn white in historic moments, including Geraldine Ferraro when she accepted her nomination as the first female candidate for vice president at the 1984 Democratic convention. Hillary Rodham Clinton frequently wore white on the campaign trail and did so when she accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination in 2016.

In the Republican Party’s official response to President Biden’s State of the Union address, Ms. Britt delivered a jarring speech that toggled between an increasingly strained cheerfulness and a fierce glare as she gave ominous warnings about illegal immigration.

Ms. Britt, 42, has been seen as a rising Republican star and floated as a possible running mate for former President Donald J. Trump. But in the biggest moment of her fledgling political career, she delivered a tonally uneven speech that was made more unusual by the setting of her own house in Montgomery, Ala., where she sat at her kitchen table and painted a dark picture of an America in decline.

“Our commander in chief is not in command,” Ms. Britt said. “The free world deserves better than a dithering and diminished leader.”

Her comments were in line with messages Republicans have increasingly used to criticize Mr. Biden at the start of the election year, but her 17-minute speech seemed likely to be remembered more for her disconcerting performance. She spoke in grim detail about a child victim of sex trafficking by drug cartels and the recent killing of a Georgia nursing student in which a Venezuelan migrant has been charged.

“That could’ve been my daughter,” Ms. Britt said. “It could’ve been yours.”

Previous State of the Union rebuttals have been delivered from behind a lectern in official settings, but Ms. Britt chose a domestic backdrop, trying to underscore her argument that Mr. Biden represents a threat to prosperity for American families.

But the scene seemed to confuse viewers on social media, where Ms. Britt was mocked by some for using a dramatic, breathy voice to deliver critiques of the president.

“Under his administration, families are worse off — our communities are less safe, and our country is less secure,” she said. “I just wish he understood what real families are facing around kitchen tables just like this one.”

Mr. Trump praised her speech.

“Katie Britt was a GREAT contrast to an Angry, and obviously very Disturbed, ‘President,’” he wrote on his social media site. “She was compassionate and caring, especially concerning Women and Women’s Issues. Her conversation on Migrant Crime was powerful and insightful. Great job Katie!”

Ms. Britt won her first public office in 2022, becoming the first female senator elected in Alabama and the youngest Republican woman elected to the chamber. Speaker Mike Johnson noted in announcing that she would give the State of the Union response that she was the “only current Republican mom of school-age kids serving in the Senate.”

Her selection made for a stark contrast with Mr. Biden, 81, the nation’s oldest president, who is facing skepticism within his party about whether he is too old for a second term.

She also symbolized the latest Republican attempt to broaden the appeal of a party represented overwhelmingly in Washington by white men.

Last year, the Republican response was given by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, a former Trump White House press secretary, who became the nation’s youngest governor when she took office early last year. The previous Republican responses to Mr. Biden’s speech came from Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa’s first female governor, and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican in the chamber.

Ms. Britt repeatedly brought up families and her children in her speech.

“The country we know and love seems to be slipping away — it feels like the next generation will have fewer opportunities, and less freedom, than we did,” she said. “I worry my own children may not even get a shot at living their American dreams.”

Ms. Britt is, at first glance, an unlikely vice-presidential contender for Mr. Trump. She rose to the Senate within the business-friendly establishment wing of the Republican Party that he has driven from power.

She served as chief executive of the Business Council of Alabama, the state’s chamber of commerce, and as a former chief of staff to former Senator Richard Shelby, Alabama’s longest serving senator.

But Ms. Britt has been on Mr. Trump’s radar since August 2021, when she was at the end of a receiving line to shake the former president’s hand during a Republican gathering in Alabama.

Ms. Britt, then a candidate for Senate, introduced the former president to her husband, Wesley Britt, noting that he played professional football for the New England Patriots, whose billionaire owner, Robert Kraft, is close to Mr. Trump, according to two people familiar with the exchange.

Even though Mr. Trump had already endorsed her primary opponent, Representative Mo Brooks, Ms. Britt would tell Mr. Trump that she deserved his endorsement instead.

Seven months later, in March 2022, Mr. Trump withdrew his endorsement as Mr. Brooks dropped in the polls. He backed Ms. Britt, calling her “an incredible fighter for the people of Alabama,” less than two weeks before her runoff election with Mr. Brooks in June.

Democrats seized on Ms. Britt’s selection for the Republican response as they try to make abortion rights and women’s issues central campaign topics.

Last month, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children, imperiling access in the state to fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization. Ms. Britt, who has said that she believes life begins at conception, came out in support of access to I.V.F. after the ruling.

Ms. Britt, along with most Senate Republicans, voted this year against a breakthrough bipartisan bill to crack down on immigration while providing new aid to Ukraine.

On foreign affairs, she argued that Mr. Biden’s “strategy of appeasement” had led to chaos and turmoil around the world.

Ms. Britt, along with a small majority of Republicans, voted against an aid package to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan that ultimately passed the Senate.

Earlier on Thursday, Ms. Britt’s team distributed talking points that promoted her speech by comparing it to some of the most famous oratory in the nation’s history and urging fellow Republicans to praise the Alabama senator for coming across “like America’s mom.”

“His speech was tone deaf,” the talking points declared, before either Mr. Biden or Ms. Britt had spoken. “Hers was the perfect pitch.”

Jonathan Swan contributed reporting.

Mr. Biden made clear that his regular targets during this re-election bid would be billionaires, corporations, pharmaceutical companies, banks, credit card companies and even potato chip makers. All of them, in his telling, are out to gouge consumers and duck their fair share of taxes. But his favorite villain in his election-year narrative will still be Mr. Trump, his opponent from 2020 now in a rematch set by this week’s Super Tuesday primaries.

“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are trying to take away our freedoms,” Mr. Biden told a crowd of cheering Democrats in a school gymnasium, this time not shying away from citing his challenger by name, unlike the night before. “That’s not an exaggeration. But guess what? We will not let him.”

Mr. Biden seemed delighted by the reviews of his State of the Union address, which allies hope will jump-start his campaign after months of Democratic uncertainty about his prospects. “I got my usual warm reception from Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene,” he joked, referring to the Georgia Republican who had heckled and jeered him.

He was so pumped up after the speech, he said, that he stayed up until 2 a.m. and checked out the Fox News coverage. Unsurprisingly, he disagreed with the conservative network’s take that his economic policies would “ruin America,” as he summarized it. “We have the strongest economy in the world right now,” he said.

The president was introduced on Friday by his wife, Jill Biden, who seemed likewise charged up by the address to Congress. “Wasn’t he on fire?” she asked the crowd.

She too went after Mr. Trump directly, contrasting him with her husband. “He wakes up every morning thinking about how he can make the lives of Americans better,” she said of Mr. Biden. “Donald Trump wakes up every morning caring about one person and one person only: himself.”

The president’s travel schedule is about to pick up. After this stop in Pennsylvania, Mr. Biden will head to Georgia on Saturday, New Hampshire on Monday and Wisconsin and Michigan in the middle of next week. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Arizona and Nevada, meaning that between the two they will hit within a week all of the half-dozen swing states considered critical to the outcome in November.

The cabinet will join in the blitz as well, with the secretaries of the Treasury, interior, agriculture, labor, health and human services, education, energy and veterans affairs as well as various agency directors all taking to the road. The officials will talk about policy goals like protecting abortion rights and promote the administration’s accomplishments, such as strong job growth, rather than making formal campaign speeches, but it all fits into the broader effort. The president and his team got good news as they headed out when the Labor Department reported that U.S. employers had added 275,000 jobs last month.

Mr. Biden’s well-funded campaign announced that it would open the season with a $30 million advertising blitz. The campaign plans to hire 350 staff members and open 100 offices in battleground states over the next month, countering Democratic nervousness about its sluggish start.

After flying to Philadelphia on Friday, Mr. Biden stopped at a private home in Swarthmore to visit Jack and David Cunicelli, the owners of a local cafe. A member of their family is an old friend of Hunter Biden, the president’s son.

But one of the electoral challenges facing Mr. Biden as he seeks to reassemble his 2020 coalition manifested when he arrived at Strath Haven Middle School in Wallingford, where hundreds of protesters upset at his support for Israel’s war in Gaza were waiting. “Shame on you,” they chanted. They added, pointedly, “This November, we remember.”

Inside the gymnasium, Mr. Biden got a friendlier greeting from the crowd: “Four more years!”

Mr. Biden did not exhibit the same volume as he had the night before and stumbled over his words occasionally. But wearing a blue quarter-zip sweater and no tie, he appeared loose and in good spirits, engaging playfully with the crowd. At one point, he trotted out one of his regular lines, complaining that billionaires pay only 8 percent in taxes, a figure that fact checkers have said is misleading.

“I pay more than that,” a woman called out.

“You sure hell do!” he replied.

After his speech was over and Dr. Biden joined him onstage, the president interrupted the applause and made the campaign staff turn down the music so he could tell a well-worn story about how he had proposed to her. “I had to ask this woman five times to marry me!”

But he had a serious message about the choice he sees for the country between him and Mr. Trump, whom he blamed for threatening democracy and coarsening society.

“When you ride down the street, there’s a Trump banner with an F-U on it and a 6-year-old kid putting up his middle finger — did you ever think you’d hear people talk the way they do?” Mr. Biden asked. “Look, it demeans who we are. That’s not America.”

The president associated his challenger with dictators like President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and autocrats like Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, essentially making the case that Mr. Trump shares their anti-democratic instincts.

“You know who he’s meeting with today down in Mar-a-Lago?” Mr. Biden asked the crowd. “Orban of Hungary, who stated flatly he doesn’t think democracy works, he’s looking for dictatorship.” He added, “That’s who he’s meeting with. I see a future where we defend democracy, not diminish it. I see a future where we defend our freedoms, not take them away.”

This was not a typical State of the Union. The speeches are often a laundry list of accomplishments and an equally long set of promises. Instead, this was Mr. Biden framing the year, just as his White House and Wilmington-based advisers want, as a stark choice between two candidates.

He opened with Donald Trump. He closed with Mr. Trump. And in between he taunted and teased the Republican lawmakers in the chamber who were protesting and jeering, readily taking the bait — and even one person’s pin — to score political points of his own.

Here are five takeaways from Mr. Biden’s fiery election-year State of the Union:

For Biden, his rival was always ‘my predecessor’ — never Trump.

Mr. Biden may not have mentioned Mr. Trump by name, but he left little doubt about whom he was speaking — and whom he was running against.

The president outlined sharply divergent views of America — its government and its role in the world — with “my predecessor,” a phrase he first used fewer than five minutes into the speech.

He used it over and over again. He quoted Mr. Trump’s comments encouraging President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to do “whatever the hell you want” in Europe, calling it “outrageous, dangerous” and “unacceptable.”

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Now my predecessor, a former Republican president, tells Putin, quote, “Do whatever the hell you want.” That’s a quote. A former president actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader. I think it’s outrageous. It’s dangerous and it’s unacceptable.

He talked about how “my predecessor” had tried to rewrite the history of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, how “my predecessor” had failed to care as the pandemic began to rage across the nation almost exactly four years ago, how “my predecessor” had done little to combat China and how “my predecessor” had not acted on gun violence.

The structure of these speeches is highly intentional. And all these contrasts with Mr. Trump came before Mr. Biden’s recitation of his own accomplishments, or before he discussed any new proposals for the rest of this year or for a second term.

Later — in a moment not in his prepared remarks — he spoke directly to Mr. Trump. “If my predecessor is watching,” Mr. Biden said, before urging the former president to join him in backing the failed bipartisan border bill that Mr. Trump helped tank.

The focus was a sign of how political the president’s address had been — and how central Mr. Trump is to Mr. Biden’s own political future.

He seemed to relish tangling with the G.O.P.

Moments of Mr. Biden’s address were reminiscent of the one he gave a year ago, when he responded to heckles from Republican lawmakers with quick retorts that earned him high marks for being quick on his feet.

On Thursday, he did it again, sparring with Republicans about tax cuts and immigration and more. Once, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, yelled during the speech that Mr. Biden’s son should pay his taxes.

At one point, Mr. Biden held up a pin that Ms. Greene had been handing out ahead of the speech calling on him to say the name of the nurse in Georgia who had been killed. A Venezuelan migrant has been charged with her murder.

Mr. Biden held up the pin and declared, “An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal,” a term many Democrats have retired.

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“Not really —” Rep. Greene: “It’s about Laken Riley.” “I —” “Say her name.” “Laken — Laken Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right. But how many of the thousands of people being killed by legals — to her parents, I say my heart goes out to you, having lost children myself. I understand.”

Mr. Biden and his advisers had prepared — in fact, had been eager for — an interplay with G.O.P. lawmakers. They are betting that people are looking for a fighter and someone who still has the energy to engage with his rivals, politically and on the global stage.

Doing that can be tricky. In some of his news conferences, he has come across as more angry than assertive. In other moments, he has seemed too soft-spoken or weak, prompting some of his supporters to wish that he put more energy into being more assertive.

On Thursday night, with the help of the Republicans, he avoided both extremes. He ended the 68-minute speech with an even louder finish that drew the usual standing ovation from Democrats.

Biden talked up economics, but not ‘Bidenomics.’

Mr. Biden faced a fundamental tension as he stepped onto the speaker’s rostrum. Many economic indicators are up. But a majority of Americans keep saying in polls that they see the country headed in the wrong direction — and that they don’t believe Mr. Biden’s policies have helped them.

Mr. Biden settled on a balancing act on Thursday.

He boasted that “consumer confidence is soaring” and inflation was dropping. But the bigger case he made was for voters to “remember” the depths of 2020 and compare that to where the nation was now. “I inherited an economy that was on the brink,” he said. “Now our economy is the envy of the world.”

Along the way, he leaned on a number of tangible and more populist-infused items in a bid to connect his agenda to the public. More candy and chips in snack bags, for instance, but also lower credit card fees. And, of course, the old Democratic standbys of raising taxes on the super-wealthy.

He also tucked in some media criticism, too, calling the recovery “the greatest comeback story never told.” It was one he was determined to tell, though on Thursday he was sure to toss the credit to the country for the progress.

He predicted that the issue of abortion would propel Democrats in November.

This State of the Union speech was Mr. Biden’s second since Roe v. Wade was overturned. But he devoted far more time to abortion than the 72 words he spent on the subject in 2023. In fact, his prediction that the “power of women” would show itself in 2024 because of abortion was the first excerpt the White House had released before the speech.

On Thursday, he spoke of Democratic victories in 2022 and 2023 since the Supreme Court overturned Roe and he made a prediction.

“We’ll win again in 2024,” he said, because of abortion. It was an explicit political call to arms in the halls of government. The speech itself doubled as a map to the top issues Mr. Biden is running on, including democracy.

“My God, what freedoms will you take away next?” Mr. Biden said.

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In its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court majority wrote the following. And with all due respect, justices, women are not without electoral — electoral power. Excuse me, electoral or political power. You’re about to realize just how much we’re right about that. Clearly — clearly those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women, but they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot. We won in 2022 and 2020, and we’ll win again in 2024.

The centrality of “reproductive freedom,” as Mr. Biden often phrases it, was not just clear from his speech but the guests in the White House’s box. They included a Texas woman who had to leave her state to get an abortion to save her own life and an Alabama woman who had been scheduled for fertility treatments when the Alabama Supreme Court shut down I.V.F. treatments in that state.

The reality, for now, is that the Democratic agenda is more defensive of potential Republican action on abortion. There is little the president can do for abortion rights, which is why his promise to “restore” Roe v. Wade was so carefully crafted to include the hedge that he would do so “if” voters also elect a Congress that could pass such legislation.

It was a feisty speech aimed at combating the notion that Biden is too old.

Mr. Biden came into Thursday’s speech determined to use the high-profile moment to beat back accusations that he is too old for a second term.

He delivered feisty remarks at a near-shout in an effort to show energy and vitality. He sparred with Republicans in the chamber several times, diverting from his prepared remarks to ad-lib his retorts. And as he neared the end of his speech, the president joked about his age.

“I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while,” the 81-year-old commander in chief said to chuckles in the chamber. “And when you get to my age, certain things become clearer than ever.”

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In my career, I’ve been told I was too young. By the way, they didn’t let me on the Senate elevators for votes sometimes — not a joke. And I’ve been told I’m too old. Whether young or old, I’ve always been known — I’ve always known what endures. I’ve known our North star. The very idea of America is that we’re all created equal and deserved to be treated equally throughout our lives. We’ve never fully lived up to that idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I won’t walk away from it now. I’m optimistic. I really am. I’m optimistic, Nancy.

If his primary mission was to avoid a gaffe that would feed into concerns about his age, as expressed by broad majorities in both parties in multiple polls, he succeeded in that mission. But despite a performance that was more spirited than he often delivers, it was unlikely that one evening would quell widespread voter concerns about his age or change G.O.P. strategy. Republicans have made questioning Mr. Biden’s competency a centerpiece of their 2024 playbook.

The morning of the State of Union began with an ad from Mr. Trump’s super PAC questioning if Mr. Biden would live to 2029. By evening, Donald Trump Jr. said on social media that Mr. Biden looked “like a reanimated corpse.”

But the Mr. Biden that the nation saw on Thursday was very much alive.