The tumult of Biden’s presidency

TThe Oval Office speech was designed to be a comforting American ritual. Decades ago, the President, sitting behind the familiar Resolute Desk, faced a single chamber and spoke directly to the nation. “My fellow Americans,” Joe Biden began Sunday night, his third time addressing the country from the Oval.

But this moment is different from others, as Biden tries to navigate perhaps the most challenging periods of his presidency, where doubts about his acuity threaten to overshadow his record. It’s been less than three weeks since Biden’s dismal debate performance sparked a revolt within his party to kick him off the ticket, forcing him to fight to maintain his party’s support while also welcoming dozens of leaders. world leaders for the NATO Summit. Then came the shocking events of Saturday night, when a political rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, ended with two people dead and Donald Trump being led away by Secret Service agents with blood on his face.

Now the country faces a historic test in recovering from an assassination attempt on a former president and current rival of Biden. It is also a test for Biden. Will he be able to meet the moment and pursue one of the central themes of his campaign – healing the country’s uneven political divisions?

As Biden sat in the Oval Office to try to do just that, several advisers sat along the inner wall of the Oval Office, watching closely. Senior counselor Anita Dunn followed the transcript, nestled in a large green notebook, occasionally uttering important phrases.

“The political rhetoric in this country has become very heated. It’s time to cool down. We all have a responsibility to do this,” Biden said. “And remember, although we may disagree, we are not enemies. We are neighbors, we are friends, we are coworkers, we are citizens, and most importantly, we are fellow Americans.”

During his six-minute speech, Biden ticked off some of the most alarming episodes of political violence in the past seven years: the 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball game practice session; the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021; the attack on the wife of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; the intimidation of election officials; the kidnapping plot against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer; and lastly, Saturday’s shooting at the Trump rally.

“There is no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence in America, ever. Period. No exceptions,” Biden said.

Biden previously addressed the nation from the Oval Office last June, after avoiding the economic consequences of exceeding the debt ceiling, and then in October, following the Hamas attack on Israel. As he spoke Sunday night, the White House allowed some news photographers to stand in the Rose Garden to take photos of Biden during the speech through the Oval Office windows. After he finished speaking and the camera turned off, Biden looked to his right, slightly alarmed, and said, “Who’s that guy outside the window?”

Oval Office speeches sometimes signal the conclusion of a tumultuous period, but Biden’s current one shows no end in sight. Republicans are set to gather this week in Milwaukee for their national convention, where Biden’s mental state is sure to be a major topic of discussion. Biden’s campaign will spend the week drawing a contrast between his vision for the future and what they see as the “retrospective agenda” of Trump and Republicans, a campaign aide said. Although Biden canceled a campaign trip to Texas on Monday, he is keeping an interview scheduled for that evening with NBC’s Lester Holt, the aide said. Biden will then travel to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he will speak at the NAACP National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday and the UnidosUS Annual Conference on Wednesday.

The Oval Office speech marked a return to an encouraging motivation for Biden’s political career. He entered politics after the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. He decided to challenge Donald Trump in the 2020 election after Trump, as president, said there were good people on “both sides” in the deadly Charlottesville clashes with neo-Nazis who oppose the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Political violence, he told the country on Sunday, should not be normalized.

“Disagreement is inevitable in American democracy, it is part of human nature,” Biden said. “But politics should never be a literal battlefield, or God forbid, a killing field. I believe politics should be an arena for peaceful debate.”