About a half hour after Joe Biden finished up a give-em-hell type of State of the Union speech, he was still in the House chamber, shaking hands, taking selfies and chatting up other senators in candid moments that were caught on C-SPAN.
The president lingered for so long that some photographers joked that soon the House chaplain may show up to give the next morning’s prayer.
Finally, House Speaker Mike Johnson, still on the rostrum, called an end to the proceedings, and the TV lights dimmed. Biden got the signal that it was time to go, but even then it took him a few more minutes to exit.
The speech and even Biden’s endurance in its aftermath should have provided some reassurance to Democrats fretting about Biden’s age and agility in recent months — as one prominent Hollywood backer put it to me the other day, the term is “freaking out.” The positive reaction to Biden’s speech, focused on his energy and vigor, was an indication that it was not so much what Biden said as how he said it, particularly when he responded to the occasional heckle or name checked individual members, like Lindsey Graham, who were left largely to just smile.
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