President Joe Biden had a few goals last night:
1. Remind his audience of his accomplishments over the last two years;
2. Reiterate his positions in the spending debate (no negotiations over the debt ceiling and no touching Social Security and Medicare);
3. Detail the most popular highlights of his 2023 agenda; and
4. Expose his congressional GOP opposition as unreasonable and chaotic.
The speech accomplished the first three goals if you listened or read it carefully. But it will be best remembered for the dramatic clashes with jeering members of the GOP which may have done more than Biden ever could have hoped to accomplish goal No. 4.
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Raghu Manavalan is the host and senior editor of POLITICO's Playbook Daily Briefing.
Jenny Ament is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.