I'm reading it now. Really impressed by the string of soundbites, though also aware it's written for a President who can't be trusted with long sentences.
"We countered Russia’s lies with truth." and reading between the lines, the unprecedented disclosure of military intelligence before the accidental invasion, is no doubt being fed to Ukraine now.
"Smartphones. The Internet. Technology we have yet to invent." Perhaps you have to be a bit old to see the dazzle in this. The change in focus from specific, to limitless, to the unknown. It's a brilliant line. If your mind doesn't boggle a bit, you're probably very young and take all three for granted: you don't know how changing technology will change your life.
"More jobs where you can earn a good living in America." but what he doesn't say is "minimum wage". Leftists should be outraged at this, and I expect Tlaib to take issue with it. All these examples of 15k middle-class jobs in auto manufacturing, or 50k middle-class jobs in semiconductor manufacturing. Manufacturing is not where the jobs are, and that's not going to change. The working class of America want to hear about the wages of the job they've already got, going up to combat inflation. They don't want to hear about a college graduate with no ties to a state, moving to Ohio to work in semiconductors. Biden hands so much to the Right, even glossing over how GM only exist now because Obama's Democrats bailed them out, but he won't even mention minimum wage? What a sell-out.
"Second - cut energy costs for families an average of $500 a year by combatting climate change." Maybe, but not soon. And the solid policy suggestions (tax credits to weatherize homes, subsidies or tax deductions to make electric cars more affordable) are just fine, except you alienated half the audience right away by presenting it as combatting climate change. If that is ALL you have to say about climate change, then it would be better you not mention it at all.
"Third – cut the cost of child care. Many families pay up to $14,000 a year for child care per child." Yes this is a massive winner for Democrats. Freeing up time to work makes it effectively an income transfer to parents, but without the stigma of welfare. Biden should have fleshed out the figures more ... except that would have made it apparent to middle class listeners that they get less benefit than poor families do. Once again, a sell-out.
"My plan doesn’t stop there. It also includes home and long-term care. More affordable housing. And Pre-K for every 3- and 4-year-old.
All of these will lower costs"
A good end to the section. "Costs" mean different things to different people and there's a little solace there for the upper-middle-class taxpayer: families who work more, pay more tax back.
"The only president ever to cut the deficit by more than one trillion dollars in a single year" what is this malarkey? There is no way a bit of nick and tuck on tax enforcement is going to make that pig look like a bird. Big deficits are here until someone either cuts military and welfare to the bone, or someone introduces whole new taxes aimed at wealth not income. Or both.
Medicare is going to set higher standards for nursing homes and make sure your loved ones get the care they deserve and expect. Another winner, if Medicare can do it. Many people of all classes feel bad about "putting mom/dad/grandcritter in a nursing home" and they can't afford a full-time nurse instead. The other alternative is having to bust in the door and find the elder dead in their own home. There's a deep stream of guilt many people feel when modern mores rule out living with their own elderly relatives. So the only way this could be better is to offer carer's subsidies for keeping elders in the family.
Raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and extend the Child Tax Credit, so no one has to raise a family in poverty. Oh now you get round to it, well down the wish-list. The class division is all too obvious: minimum wage workers come between Elders and Students. They're not up front of the speech where people might still be paying attention.
"Under these new guidelines, most Americans in most of the country can now be mask free." Joe, joe, you can't use anti-masker phrases without making them think you gave up. You're handing them victory. ", most Americans no longer need to wear a mask" is more correct.