“I mean, they literally played into his hands. You know, I don’t know if the people at the White House as they were drafting it at Camp David this weekend envisioned that happening the way it did, but it played out perfectly,” Wallace said on CNN following the speech.
Biden later called on Congress to agree to “stand up for seniors,” getting applause from across both parties.
“When he said let’s all stand up for seniors, there was no politician who was not going to stand up for seniors,” Wallace said.
He said Biden continued in calling for no cuts to Social Security and Medicare while everyone was still standing.
“It was a brilliant moment that, you know, it like took something that had been prepared by the speech writers and he made it his own and he made it magic,” Wallace said. “It was really quite a piece of political showmanship.”
Wallace said before the speech that Biden would likely have his largest live audience of the year on Tuesday night and needed to come off as “vigorous,” as he is likely close to announcing his 2024 reelection bid.