President Joe Biden delivered Tuesday night’s State of the Union Address—his first before a newly divided Congress—seemingly at warp speed, touting several keystone legislative packages that have helped define his first term. He also touched on everything from the state of the economy, health care and the debt ceiling debacle, to the scourge of gun violence, police reform efforts, Russia’s war in Ukraine and the U.S.’s unstable relationship with China.
The president’s primetime address to a deeply polarized nation comes amid a particularly fraught political moment, as was evidenced by the repeated Republican-led heckling during his speech. The shouts from the right elicited a direct response from Biden, who fended off his critics with considerable poise and humor, says Costas Panagopoulos, head of Northeastern’s political science department.
