Biden to deliver first primetime address tonight

Daily News Article   —   Posted on March 11, 2021

NOTE:

  • A newly elected president delivers a formal address to a Joint Session of Congress during his inaugural year, and delivers his first State of the Union address starting in his second year in office.
  • The President delivers the address live to a Joint Session of Congress from the Speaker’s rostrum in the U.S. House of representatives.
  • After postponing the date for his address, President Biden now has no date set to deliver this live address. Instead, he will address the American people tonight on TV to discuss Covid-19.  It is not clear if this will be a pre-recorded speech. It has been said that he will not take questions.

(by Rob Snyder, NewsTalk1290) — President Joe Biden will be addressing the nation Thursday night (March 11th, 2021) from The White House. The nation’s 46th president is scheduled to speak at 8 p.m. Eastern …

Tonight’s address is to mark the one-year anniversary of various shutdowns across the nation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “[President Biden] will discuss the many sacrifices that the American people have made over the last year and the grave loss communities and families across the country have suffered. The president will look forward, highlighting the role that Americans will play in beating the virus and moving the country to getting back to normal.”

In previewing Thursday night’s speech, President Biden said he would “talk about what we’ve been through as a nation this past year, but more importantly, I’m going to talk about what comes next.”

President Biden is also expected to discuss the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that was approved by Congress over the past week and the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across the country.

“This is a chance for him to really beam into everybody’s living rooms and to be both the mourner in chief and to explain how he’s leading the country out of this,” said presidential historian and Rice University professor Douglas Brinkley to the Associated Press.

“This is a big moment,” Brinkley added. “He’s got to win over hearts and minds for people to stay masked and get vaccinated, but also recognize that after the last year, the federal government hasn’t forgotten you.”

Thursday night’s speech is not the State of the Union, which is mandated annually by the U.S. Constitution.  [It remains unclear when the president will deliver his address to a joint session of Congress. which was originally scheduled for February.  His press secretary has said it will be scheduled soon].

Published at NewsTalk1290 .com. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission.


Questions

1. a) Why isn’t President Biden delivering a State of the Union address from the U.S. House of Representatives this year?
b) When will President Biden deliver his inaugural year address to a Joint Session of Congress (which is usually delivered by a president in February)?

2. What is significant about the date of the president’s address tonight?

3. a) What did White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki say President Biden will be discussing in his speech tonight?
b) Ms. Psaki also noted, “The president will look forward, highlighting the role that Americans will play in beating the virus and moving the country to getting back to normal."
What do you think this new “role” might be?
Should the American people do more than what we’ve been doing for the past year - staying shut down and masked up and out of school?
c) What do you think of President Biden’s comments in his speech about our role in beating the virus? Ask a parent the same question.

4. What did President Biden say in previewing his Thursday night speech?

5. a) What did presidential historian Professor Douglas Brinkley say about the president’s speech?
b) What does President Biden have to do/say “to win over hearts and minds for [you/your family] to stay masked and get vaccinated”? Explain your answer.
c) Ask a parent: how important is it to you for President Biden to convince you during his speech that “the federal government hasn’t forgotten you”? Please explain your answer.

CHALLENGE #1 — WITHOUT listening to any comments by the media, watch President Biden’s address to the nation and answer the following questions.

To watch the address without comment, go to whitehouse.gov or c-span.org.
To read the text of President Biden’s address, go to: whitehouse.gov.

1. Tone is the attitude a speaker takes towards a subject. What was the tone of President Biden’s address? (optimistic, hopeful, energetic, inspiring, pessimistic, discouraging, lethargic, bombastic, etc. …) Explain your answer.

2. What do you think of President Biden’s plan for dealing with covid going forward?

3. What inspired you the most about President Biden’s address? Explain your answer. (If it did not inspire you at all, why not?)

CHALLENGE #2 - Watch/read/listen to reporting on President Biden’s address.
a) Are headlines positive, negative, or neither? Explain your answer. Give several examples.
b) Are reporters’ comments positive, negative, or neither? Explain your answer. Give several examples.