Five takeaways from Biden’s State of the Union address

The speech came at a precarious moment. The international crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is shifting by the minute. At home, Biden’s political standing has taken a beating.

The positive poll ratings the president enjoyed in his first months in office are a distant memory, sapped by historically high inflation, the prolongation of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The State of the Union, which draws an audience in the tens of millions, offered Biden an opportunity to try to pull some discontented voters back onto his side — all while giving due gravity to the situation in eastern Europe.