Pictured is United States President Joe Biden

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor -in-chief, and a political and investigative reporter who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio

Washington D.C.- A sometimes defiant President Joe Biden (pictured) delivered a fiery State of the Union address Thursday night in Washington, D.C. before a joint chamber of Congress, and he left no stone un-turned as he prepares for reelection and a likely rematch with former President Donald Trump via the upcoming November election.

It was the president's third State of the Union and his last one before the 2024 presidential election, and it, no doubt, silenced some naysayers and put some rumors to rest that he is too old to be president at 81-years-old and does not have the mindset to lead America to prosperity.

Likely one of the most forceful and dynamic speeches of his political career, the former U.S. senator who was vice president under former President Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president, the articulate Biden spoke for 68 min. He received repeated applause and standing ovations from Congressional Democrats and a few boos every now and then from MAGA Republicans like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, a Trump supporter. Democrats chanted "four more years."

At one point in his well-prepared speech the Democratic president began preaching, after mentioning the late Civil Rights icon the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement that King initiated and led under the auspice of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

He spoke on a broad range of issues, including immigration, education, gun safety, climate change, foreign and domestic policy, tax cuts for the middle class and the Ukraine and Israeli-Hamas wars. And he took aim at former President Trump not by name but as his "predecessor," whom he called his predecessor some 13 times during his rousing speech.

He complimented First Lady Dr. Jill Biden as an incredible first lady who will lead the charge for women's health research and said that Vice President Kamala Harris, the country's first Black and first female vice president, is a superb vice president and a credible ally who has fought for women's reproductive rights without reservation.

" I thank Vice President Kamala Harris for being an incredible leader and defending Roe v Wade," he said, adding that if he is sent a bill  from Congress he will "restore Roe v Wade as the law of the land again."

The oldest president ever elected to office, the president addressed "Bloody Sunday," the day of March 7, 1965 when  voting rights protesters crossing  the Edmond Pettus Bridge from Selma to Montgomery, Ala were arrested, beaten and attacked by police, an effort led by Dr King  that culminated in the  passage by Congress of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

He discussed how the U.S. Supreme Court has weakened the original Voting Rights Act and called for passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and he spoke on the Jan 6 insurrection at the Capitol building, saying rioters were not patriots and that they "came to stop the peaceful transition of power but failed."

Biden said that as president he has created 15 million more jobs in three years, and lowered unemployment and inflation, and that America's bridges, roadways and other infrastructure projects will be "made with American products and built by American workers."

Public school teachers, he said, deserve a raise, after he praised unions and United Auto Workers (UAW) leaders for fighting for better working conditions and a decent wage for union members.

"The middle class built the country and unions built the middle class," the president said.

The president spoke at length on Gaza and the hostages in Israel and Gaza, as well as the need for humanitarian aid and a cease-fire in Gaza. He said that he wants a two state solution between Israel and Palestine and that he will not rest until "every  hostage is brought home."

He promised to do everything within his power to protect medicaid, medicare, and social security for aging and other  Americans and promoted the Affordable Care Act, Obama's signature legislation, saying he would fight to keep it in place amid Trump's efforts to do otherwise.

Biden also courted the Black and minority vote during his speech in what he called progress regarding "historic job growth and small business growth for Black, Hispanic, and Asian-Americans."

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.