Joe Biden will ignore pressure from the Republic Party to adopt a hard stance against Chinese hostility to focus his State of the Union speech on the economy, a political PR expert forecast. The President has been under the spotlight in recent days over the delay in authorising the shooting down of a suspected spy balloon from China, with the GOP demanding Washington send a strong message to avoid such incidents from happening again. But Mario Almonte insisted the ongoing skirmish with Beijing will be in the background as he predicted Biden will be focussing his speech on the positive economic performance of the US during the past year.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, Almonte said: “President Bill Clinton’s campaign strategist famously said, ‘It’s the economy, stupid!’
“And, most likely, this is the main topic that President Biden will focus on in his State of the Union address.
“While Republicans relentlessly demonize and otherwise minimize the accomplishments of the Biden administration, there is no doubt that the economy has continued to perform stronger than expected.
“Job creations continue to hold steady, unemployment remains at a record low, the Federal Reserve seem to be holding inflation under control, and the dreaded Great Recession that economists continue to agonize about hasn’t really materialized.”
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The Herman and Almonte PR president noted the US economy has seemingly been able to avoid the massive risk of recession threatening other countries across the world.
Almonte suggested Biden will touch upon the issue of the suspected Chinese spy balloon but is likely to reiterate similar accidents had happened during past administrations as well.
He continued: “Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Law seem to be working. While the rest of the world struggles with inflation and economic uncertainties, the United States – after all – seems to be holding the great ship of its economy steady.
“There’s no doubt that Biden will touch upon China’s spy balloon, perhaps to point out that it has been a common occurrence in other administrations, in an effort to calm the media frenzy and undercut the GOP’s talking points, but I believe Biden’s speech will focus heavily on the economy.
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“He has a lot of solid statistics to support his position. His policies are beginning to bear fruit.”
Almonte added: “His speech will also talk about the future and the great optimism he feels for the United States’ continuing recovery from recession, the strong job market, and the many projects taking place across the United States to repair the country’s crumbling infrastructure as a result of his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”
The latest jobs report released last week showed the US economy had added 517,000 jobs in January.
The figure doubled initial expectations for the new year as economists had forecast unemployment would rise.
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The Labour Department also reported last week that there were more than 11 million job openings across the United States in December, a 600,000 increase from November.
Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi admitted his surprise at the figures, commenting on Twitter that he struggled to believe the report.
Zandi wrote: “The BLS jobs report for January was VERY strong. So strong, I don’t believe it.
“The BLS is likely having measurement issues. Most likely, difficulty seasonally adjusting the data, which is especially important in January.”
President Biden will deliver his State of the Union speech at 9pm EST (2am GMT).
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