President Joe Biden exhorted Congress Tuesday (Wednesday, Feb, 8, 2023, in Manila) to work with him to “finish the job” of rebuilding the economy and uniting the nation as he delivered a State of the Union (SOTU) address aimed at reassuring a country beset by pessimism and fraught political divisions, Zeke Miller, Seung Min Kim and Lisa Mascaro reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: As Biden, 80, prepares for a likely reelection bid, he sought to prove to a skeptical nation that his stewardship has delivered results both at home and abroad.
In his 73-minute speech, Biden sought to portray a nation dramatically improved from the one he took charge of two years ago: From a reeling economy to one prosperous with new jobs; from a crippled, pandemic-weary nation to one that has now reopened, and a democracy that has survived its biggest test since the Civil War.
“Folks, the story of America is a story of progress and resilience. Of always moving forward. Of never, ever, giving up,” Biden said.
“It’s a story unique among all nations. We’re the only country that has emerged from every crisis we’ve ever entered stronger than when we got into it.” He added: “We’re not finished yet by any stretch of the imagination.”
The backdrop for the annual address was markedly different from the previous two years, with a Republican speaker now sitting expressionless behind Biden and newly empowered GOP lawmakers in the chamber sometimes shouting criticism of him and his administration, Fatima Hussein also reported for AP.
As Biden, 80, prepares for a likely reelection bid, he sought to prove to a skeptical nation that his stewardship has delivered results both at home and abroad.
He highlighted record job creation during his tenure as the country has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and pointed to areas of bipartisan progress in his first two years in office, including on states’ vital infrastructure projects and high-tech manufacturing.
And he said, “There is no reason we can’t work together and find consensus on important thing in this Congress as well.” Biden also outmaneuvered the Republicans by pushing them to keep their mouths shut when he said SSS and Medicare should not suffer cuts.
The GOP may have a thin majority in Congress but the Senate and the White House could overrule them. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered the Republican response to Biden’s speech. She focused much of her remarks on social issues, including race in business and education, and alleged big-tech censorship of conservatives.
“While you reap the consequences of their failures, the Biden administration seems more interested in woke fantasies than the hard reality Americans face every day,” she said.
“Most Americans simply want to live their lives in freedom and peace, but we are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didn’t start and never wanted to fight.” She concluded: “The choice is between normal and crazy.”
And pundits, from HuffPost to New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and MSNBC ganged up on her, saying Sanders had sided with crazy since 2016, and she is still pushing the agenda of crazies by defending Trump, who incurred an $8-trillion debt in four years, promised the Taliban that the US would leave Afghanistan, and masterminded the US Capitol insurrection after he battered black and blue in the Nov. 2020 election, with Biden trouncing him with a 7.5-million vote majority.
It is also crazy to claim that the election was stolen from Trump, who lost more than 60 court cases and who had been slammed by judges for trying to use the judiciary to pursue his evil political agenda.
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