Hello there, I'm Chuck Todd and this is the Chuck Todd cast.

So President Biden used his second state of the Union address to basically focus on what

he might call normal America.

He spoke to the middle of the electorate, the middle of the country, and the middle class.

At least that was certainly the goal that he had.

There's a land war in Europe and the president focused part of his speech on resort fees.

Just a nod to the Clinton era, if you will, in the night basketball, if you remember

those days.

Immigration abortion and gay rights were all technically part of the speech.

But the back and forth over entitlements put President Biden in the position of defending

widely popular programs.

Republicans provided the president with what he needed, a foil, heckling and shouting, a

few local House Republicans created a contrast that gave Biden the opening that I'm certain

they were wanting to have and they used it.

Now by Peter Baker, Chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, Lee and Cold War

Co-Inker for Washington Post's life.

So Peter, I'm going to start with you because I had Bill Clinton flashbacks.

I feel like nobody understood the distinction between a state of the Union for Washington

and a state of the Union for America better, I think, than Bill Clinton.

And I thought Joe Biden last night was doing his best imitation of midnight basketball.

I've been torn by how little was said about Ukraine and we're having this existential

threat to democracy in the world.

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