Biden’s Speech Thrills Ukraine Watchers. Others, Not So Much.

In the days before President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union address, a handful of international diplomats and American foreign policy players shared with me their fantasy lists of what would be in it.

A permanent cease-fire in Gaza. A tough lecture to Congress on Ukraine military aid. A call for full sanctions on all Russian banks. Praise for the controversial new president of Argentina.

Well, one of those dreams came true.

To the joy of many worried about Washington’s commitment to Ukraine and Europe more broadly, Biden launched the address Thursday by talking about the Kremlin’s war on Kyiv. He slammed Russian leader Vladimir Putin and urged Congress to end its logjam and approve more military aid for Ukraine. He praised NATO, welcomed its newest members, and blasted predecessor and 2024 rival Donald Trump — though not by name — for his overtures to Putin.

“History is watching,” Biden declared. “We will not bow down. I will not bow down.”

“Front and center!” one European diplomat texted me in delighted response. “Very strong on Ukraine,” another foreign diplomat wrote.

Biden’s decision to tackle Ukraine headfirst is likely to lead to sighs of relief in capitals across Europe, where many of America’s closest allies have been questioning its commitment to helping Kyiv as far-right Republicans increasingly dominate the conversation on Capitol Hill and Moscow makes gains on the battlefield. That Biden cited Franklin Roosevelt and World War II spoke to the gravity of the moment many in Europe feel. That he immediately swiped at Trump will also thrill plenty of European officials who privately loathe the former president.

Ukraine was in many ways an ideal starter topic for the Biden team. They see the war as a clear-cut case of good vs. evil, as well as a global rallying cry for democracy. It’s also a way to highlight Republican intransigence in Congress, not to mention knock down a rival for the White House.

Biden tackled other foreign policy issues much later in the speech, which, like most States of the Union, was heavier on domestic issues and targeted primarily at an American audience.

He did take on the Israel-Hamas war, but in a way that’s unlikely to satisfy many of his critics.

As his administration previewed earlier in the day, Biden announced that the United States would construct a temporary pier on Gaza’s coast to help deliver humanitarian aid to desperate Palestinians. He had tough words for both the militants of Hamas and the Israeli government, insisting that civilian lives must be protected. He acknowledged that “the last five months have been gut-wrenching.”

But he did not call for an immediate permanent cease-fire, just one that would last for at least six weeks. He did not threaten to cut U.S. military aid to Israel, and while he pleaded with Israel to prioritize protecting civilians, he said it “has a right to go after Hamas.”

Many people alarmed by Israel’s military campaign in Gaza were not pleased. Even as they welcomed the construction of a pier for humanitarian reasons, they said it showcased the incoherence of U.S. policy toward the Middle East: The U.S. is arming Israel, but Israel is ignoring America’s pleas to allow more aid to reach civilians via land. So now the U.S. is going around its longtime ally to get more aid to Palestinians that it’s helping Israel bomb.

“He says that this was started by Hamas Oct 7, ignoring (intentionally obvs) 75 yrs of occupation” by Israelis of land claimed by Palestinians, Muna Jondy, an Arab-American attorney and activist in Michigan, texted me after the speech. Still, she was glad that Biden spoke of the need for a two-state solution to the long-running conflict.

Unlike, say, the president’s annual address to the United Nations, foreign policy mentions in the State of the Union often feel like a box-checking exercise. This is especially true in an election year, when the president has extra incentive to highlight domestic topics about which Americans feel more strongly.

China felt like it was exactly that this year — a box quickly checked. Biden mentioned a series of steps his administration has taken, including economic initiatives, aimed at improving America’s ability to compete with China, and then he moved on.

It wasn’t the first time Biden started a State of the Union with a foreign policy issue. When he spoke in 2022 just days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Biden led his speech with reflections on the war before pivoting to a battery of domestic issues. But in 2023, his most substantive discussion of foreign affairs, including Russia’s war, was condensed and much lower in the speech, after topics such as the need to stop junk fees and wealthy tax cheats. (Biden’s April 2021 speech to a joint session of Congress wasn’t technically a State of the Union given he’d barely been in office. He mentioned several standard foreign affairs topics, including calling to end the war in Afghanistan, though nothing he said was too surprising.)

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his principal deputy, Jon Finer, were “highly involved” in helping prepare this year’s speech for Biden, including during a session at Camp David, an administration official told me, having been granted anonymity to discuss internal planning.

And Biden used the moment to speak broadly of the importance of safeguarding democracy, making it clear Trump could threaten that American value. For some foreign capitals, that might be the most important message of all given the seeming demise of the democratic order in so many parts of the world.

The European diplomat said the best part of the speech may have been the energy shown by a president whose age has become a campaign issue.

“Tone and delivery more important than the substance, perhaps though?” the diplomat wondered. “Vintage Biden. Came out swinging. Often at his best when fighting.”