Welcome to the online version of From the policy deskevening bulletin that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill from the NBC News Politics team.
In today’s edition, covering the ins and outs of Joe Biden’s White House and campaign, Mike Memoli and Gael Fobes report on how “liberty” has become a key pillar of the president’s re-election efforts. And stay tuned tonight for a special post-State edition of The Policy Desk.
Biden seeks to renew FDR’s “Four Freedoms” for 2024
By Mike Memoli and Ghael Fobes
When President Joe Biden kicked off his re-election campaign last April, the first word he said was “Freedom.”
This is a topic that will not only be his main pillar State of the Union address Tonight, however, as he focuses on his rematch with Donald Trump on his re-election bid.
The Biden team’s focus on threats to freedom and democracy has often drawn criticism from allies as a defining election issue, at a time when Americans’ perceptions of the economy and the 81-year-old president himself are expected to dominate. months ahead.
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Advisers understand the importance of Biden’s speech in answering questions about his age and the need to help better connect the administration’s economic agenda and achievements with improvements in the everyday lives of voters.
But none of that will matter, aides argue, if America’s democracy is faltering, a reality the president might be keenly aware of, and his advisers say voters have already responded.
In his speech tonight, Biden plans to refer to Franklin Roosevelt’s 1941 address to Congress, known as the “Four Freedoms” speech. FDR defined what he called “four basic human liberties”—speech and expression, worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
Biden, who has a framed painting of Roosevelt prominently displayed in the Oval Office, offered his version of the four freedoms for the 21st century.
“We’re going to vote on many issues: freedom to vote and have your vote count, freedom of choice, freedom of fair shooting, freedom from fear,” Biden said during a speech near Valley Forge. Pennsylvania, earlier this year.
It has become a consistent theme for the president, his advisers say, 80 years after Roosevelt’s speech — made all too clear by the events of January 6, to which Biden will refer.
Stay tuned for the State of the Union edition of the evening newsletter
Tune in tonight for a special edition of the Policy Desk newsletter, where we’ll recap and analyze Biden’s State of the Union address starting at 9:00 PM ET.
whom NBC News’ Alex Seitz-Wald, Gabe Gutierrez and Monica Alba report, the president will begin crafting a second-term agenda emphasizing the post-Covid economic recovery and outlining the administration’s plans to overhaul the tax code, expand housing supply and reduce the federal budget deficit. He will also announce plans to add a port that the US and its partners will use to get aid to Gaza.
And he will seek to contrast sharply with Trump on issues ranging from health care spending to the Russia-Ukraine war, while trying to ease growing unhappiness within his own party over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. NBC News’ Peter Nicholas and Mike Memoli report.
First Senator Katie Britt of Alabama is set to introduce The official Republican response to Biden’s address.
Stay up to date with all the latest developments NBC News’ State of the Union live blog. We’ll be back in your inbox shortly after Biden’s address tonight.
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For now, that’s it from The Politics Desk. If you have feedback – like it or not – send us an email politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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