Things are looking good for Biden, literally
The imagery coming out as Biden begins his third year in office is an improvement from earlier in his presidency
Like the MTV Video Music Awards, State of the Union addresses are often better remembered for their theatrics than for the content of the speeches.
There was the South Carolinian congressman who shouted “You lie!,” the speaker who tore up the president’s speech. Former Speaker Pelosi later told Variety she ripped up former President Donald Trump’s speech during his 2020 remarks because “he used the Congress as a backdrop for a reality show.” Her tearing “let off steam for people,” she said.
Perhaps letting off steam was what our elected officials had in mind during President Joe Biden’s Tuesday SOTU. Members of the right-wing attention caucus booed and brayed, giving voice to viewers yelling at Biden through their TVs at home (Biden didn’t seem to mind the interruptions, using one occasion to get Congress to go on the record that it wouldn’t cut Medicare and Social Security).
For Republican viewers embarrassed by the outbursts, Speaker McCarthy tried shushing from the dias. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) confronted Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who picked a primo seat on the aisle where Biden and his cabinet entered the chamber.
“Given the fact that he’s under ethics investigation, he should be sitting in the back row and staying quiet instead of parading in front of the president and people coming into the room,” Romney told reporters after the address.
While Santos picked an aisle seat, the centrists sat in the middle. Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona was seated to Romney’s left and wore a bright yellow dress with shoulders as broad as Adele’s that you couldn’t miss when she stood to clap.
The theme of Biden’s speech was “finish the job,” an infrastructure president’s reelection message if there ever was one. He uttered the phrase 12 times, for police reform, an assault weapons ban, and capping the cost of insulin, for rebuilding the backbone of America and uniting the country.
“Let’s finish the job,” he said. “There’s more to do.”
Biden touted his administration’s successes in reaching across the aisle, passing more than 300 bipartisan pieces of legislation, including the Respect for Marriage Act and the $1 trillion infrastructure package, “the largest investment in infrastructure since President Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System,” the 80-year Biden said, referencing a Republican president who built a brand as America’s grandpa and won reelection.
I wrote last year about how the news media marked the occasion of Biden’s first year in office with images of doom and gloom that told the story of his poor approval rating. A year later, his approval remains in the low 40s, but the visual imagery around his presidency isn’t as bad as it used to be. For one, Biden’s been absent from the cover of weekly news magazines. His last TIME magazine cover appearance was over a year ago, and he hasn’t been on the cover of Newsweek or Bloomberg Businessweek since 2021.
Though he isn’t making news at the same rate as his predecessor, Biden has instead been producing images of his own, talking about bipartisanship at a bridge project at the Ohio-Kentucky border last month with Democrats and Republicans, including Minority Leader McConnell. When Biden spoke to reporters about popping the balloon, he donned his beloved aviators.
While Biden’s approval hasn’t much budged, the imagery coming out as he begins his third year in office has been much more flattering. As he makes the case to voters that he deserves a second term, he’ll also enjoy the benefits of incumbency. Republicans will be in disarray as their primary contest begins in earnest. Meanwhile, Democrats will stand and clap in unison.
Have you seen this?
Burberry has a new logo. Could the era of sans-serif fashion logos be over? The British luxury brand dropped its minimalist wordmark for a vintage-inspired logo this week. [Dezeen]
The Queen of Salsa is getting her own quarter. Celia Cruz, a Cuban-American singer, will become the first Afro-Latina to appear on a U.S. quarter. [ABC News]
Why do people believe everything they watch on TikTok? We're just as bad as boomers falling for misinformation on Facebook. [Vice]
🎧 How I think social media companies could improve. “I think social media platforms need to be socially politically more responsible instead of just pursuing their own interests.” [𝘠𝘌𝘓𝘓𝘖]
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