Biden’s fiery State of the Union shows he’s miles ahead of ‘the alternative’

President Biden delivered a powerful and passionate State of the Union address last night, recapping his accomplishments and asking Congress to work with him to strengthen our economy, protect our freedoms, preserve our democracy, advance racial justice and stand by our foreign friends. 

The speech, one of the best of Biden’s long career, was an eloquent statement of why he deserves reelection. The president looked strong and fit as he appealed for national unity and bipartisanship, and outlined his optimistic vision for America’s future. He showed clearly that the Republican claim that he is too old and feeble to serve another term is absurd — as big a lie as former President Donald Trump’s false claim of winning the 2020 presidential election. 

Biden displayed energy and was quick on his feet to respond to Republican hecklers who shouted false claims at him. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, (R-Ga.) was particularly rude, wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat to show her support for Trump. Democrats chanted “four more years” several times in a call for Biden’s reelection.  

Biden appealed to Republican lawmakers to end the obstructionism that has paralyzed Congress on key issues, including strengthening border security with a bill negotiated by Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, restoring women’s reproductive rights nationwide and providing vital military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, along with desperately needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.  

The president also urged Republicans to join Democrats in passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to protect the voting rights of Black Americans and other minorities, repairing damage caused by Supreme Court decisions that weakened the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. The nearly 60-year-old law enabled my parents and millions of other Black people in the South to vote for the first time.   

In addition, Biden called for bipartisan support for lowering prescription drug prices, expanding aid to historically Black colleges and universities and other higher education institutions serving Black and Hispanic students, boosting Pell grants for low-income college students, raising public school teachers’ salaries and increasing taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans to raise $3 trillion. 

Biden also advocated for more research on women’s health issues, eliminating junk fees charged by corporations to save Americans $20 billion a year, tax breaks for homebuyers and lowering the cost of renting a home and banning assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips, along with other actions to reduce gun violence.  

The president said he would block Republican efforts to weaken or repeal the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), cut Medicare and Social Security and raise the retirement age.   

Unfortunately, I’m not optimistic that congressional Republicans will work with Biden to enact even watered-down versions of virtually any of his proposals. I expect the vast majority of Republican lawmakers will choose confrontation over compromise and partisanship over patriotism. That’s because Trump — now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee — has told GOP lawmakers he doesn’t want them to pass any legislation that would solve problems and make Biden look good.  

Republican lawmakers largely follow Trump’s command, making serving him a far higher priority than serving the American people. This is bad news for our country. 

Biden is 81 and Trump will turn 78 in three months. While neither man is ready to play in the NFL or climb Mount Everest, Biden is unquestionably sharper than Trump, has a far greater understanding of public policy and has been a far better president. And unlike Trump, Biden is not charged with 91 serious crimes and has not been on the losing end of civil lawsuits that have brought Trump fines totaling $540 million so far.  

As he has for decades, Biden demonstrated in yesterday’s speech that protecting America’s freedom and fighting racism is in his DNA. 

“You can’t love your country only when you win,” the president said; a clear criticism of Trump’s refusal to admit defeat in the last presidential election. Biden denounced “lies about the 2020 election and the plots to steal the election” and said the plots posed the “gravest threat to our democracy since the Civil War.” 

Biden paid tribute to the civil rights crusaders who marched 59 years ago on a bridge in Selma, Alabama to protest racist restrictions that kept Black people from voting.  

The late Rep. Johns Lewis, (D-Ga.) was nearly killed and many nonviolent marchers were seriously injured when law enforcement officers savagely beat them. One of Biden’s guests at the State of the Union address was Betty Mae Fikes, a Black woman who Biden said, “sang songs of prayer and protest on that Bloody Sunday, to help shake the nation’s conscience.” The march led to the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

In a poignant passage near the end of his State of the Union address, Biden said, “My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy,” and recounted how he was moved to devote his life to public service so he could follow in the footsteps of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, (D-N.Y.) who were both assassinated in 1968.  

I realize that Joe Biden isn’t perfect. None of us are. But as he often says: “Don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative.” 

Biden has been an outstanding president and can deliver even more for the American people if we give him another four years in office. Doing so is in our self-interest and the national interest, and certainly beats the alternative.

Donna Brazile is a political strategist, a contributor to ABC News and former chair of the Democratic National Committee. She is the author of “Hacks: Inside the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House.”