WASHINGTON, March 2, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - President Joe Biden won standing
ovation upon standing ovation Tuesday in a rousing State of the Union speech
seeking to transform bipartisan support for confronting Russia into momentum
for broader unity as the United States finally emerges from the Covid
pandemic.

   The entire first section of Biden's one hour speech to the joint session
of Congress was devoted to the bloody Russian invasion of pro-Western
Ukraine.

   As Biden branded President Vladimir Putin "a Russian dictator," pledged to
help Ukraine's fighters, and vowed to confiscate Russian oligarchs' "ill-
begotten" yachts, members of both parties stood to applaud -- a sight so rare
in today's Congress that it is all but forgotten.

   After working for weeks to unite Western allies behind unprecedented
economic sanctions against Russia and torrents of military aid to non-NATO
Ukraine, Biden painted the picture of what he said was revived global US
leadership.

   "In the battle between democracy and autocracy, democracies are rising to
the moment," he said.

   With many in Congress wearing yellow and blue in tribute to the Ukrainian
flag, this was the easy part of the speech for Biden.

   But the 79-year-old, who faces rock bottom approval ratings and bitter
opposition from Republicans still in thrall to Donald Trump, also hoped to
try and ride the positive wave into trickier domestic territory.

   - Acknowledging inflation pain -

   One year into his presidency, the Democrat faces an increasingly
disappointed and often outright angry electorate, largely due to the highest
inflation in four decades.

   Things are set to get even harder for his administration with polls
pointing to Republican victory in November's midterm congressional elections.
This time next year, the chances are high that a Republican majority will
face him when he takes the podium for the State of the Union.

   "It feels like President Biden and his party have sent us back in time to
the late 70s and early 80s, when runaway inflation was hammering families, a
violent crime wave was crashing our cities, and the Soviet army was trying to
redraw the world map," said Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds in the official
rebuttal from the Republicans.

   But after months of trying to persuade Americans that inflation is on the
verge of receding, Biden this time reached out, stressing that he understands
voters' pain.

   "Too many families are struggling to keep up with their bills," Biden
said. "That's why my top priority is getting prices under control," he said.

   To do this, Biden relaunched his idea for a "make it in America" policy
that he said would resolve global supply chain issues driving up prices,
while restoring US manufacturing power.

   This is the kind of centrist thinking that Biden emphasized during his
successful battle to defeat populist rightwinger Trump in the 2020 election.

   He was back at it in another section of the speech where he shot down
leftists of his own party, saying that the solution to police violence is
"not to defund the police."

   "It's to fund the police," Biden said in a message clearly aimed at
middle-of-the-road voters alarmed at soaring violent crime rates across
American cities.

   Then, in a nod to the left's criticism of racism and abuse among the
ranks, Biden said the secret was better training and tactics to "restore
trust."

   - Winning against Covid -

   Although embattled as he enters his second year in the White House, Biden
did come to the State of the Union with two strong cards.

   Last Friday he nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first
African American woman in history to sit on the Supreme Court.

   And amid plummeting infection rates, Biden was able to use his speech to
try and pivot the country to a more optimistic, post-pandemic future.

   Just days after the Centers for Disease Control finally eased mask
recommendations for most Americans, Biden said the long nightmare was just
about over.

   "Thanks to the progress we have made this past year, Covid-19 need no
longer control our lives," he said to a chamber that was not only packed but
all but entirely unmasked.

   The United States will "never just accept living with Covid," Biden said.

   As he left the chamber, the veteran former senator embraced that post-
Covid reality with one of his favorite activities -- extended and energetic
handshaking and chatting with massed politicians.