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Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Wednesday, March 2nd. I'm Shumita Basu.
Duarte Geraldino, Narrating: And I'm Duarte Geraldino, this is "Apple News Today." Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news, and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
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Basu: In his first State of the Union address, President Joe Biden tried to unite the nation around the idea of America as a global leader. And he offered a strong rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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President Joe Biden: He badly miscalculated. He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead, he met with a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined. He met the Ukrainian people.
[CONGRESS CHEERS]
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Geraldino: As Biden spoke, you could see a lot of lawmakers wearing blue and yellow ribbons or waving flags to show solidarity with Ukraine. And while Biden made it clear that U.S. forces will not engage directly in this conflict, he did talk about military humanitarian aid that the U.S. and its allies are supplying. He made a point to shout out Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., who was seated near the first lady and got a standing ovation. And he announced that the U.S. would join its allies and close American airspace to Russian flights.
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President Joe Biden: When the history of this era is written, Putin's war in Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger.
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Basu: In a piece of analysis for "The Washington Post," Dan Balz remarks on how Biden has been talking about the domestic battle between democracy and authoritarianism since he was elected. Now with this speech, he opened it up to that same dynamic abroad. But Balz writes that Biden may have missed an opportunity to convey to Americans why they should be invested in this conflict.
Geraldino: Still, in the chamber last night it was Biden's remarks on Russia that got the most applause from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. But, when Biden moved on to his domestic agenda, that was when the unity was gone. Republican Lauren Boebert interrupted Biden a couple of times, first by chanting "Build the Wall" when he spoke about immigration. The second time, when Biden spoke about troops being exposed to toxic burn pits. And "The Washington Post" notes how when Vice President Harris walked into the chamber, only a few Republicans applauded.
Basu: Biden spoke about the economy and said, even if it doesn't feel like it right now, we are recovering. He pointed out there's been record job growth under his administration saying over 6.5 million new jobs were created last year. More in one year than ever before in our history. "CNN" fact checked that. It's true, although keep in mind that Biden inherited an economy that had been crushed by pandemic losses. He called inflation his "top priority." A problem he said could be helped by making more goods in America.
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President Joe Biden: That means make more cars and semiconductors in America, more infrastructure and innovation in America, more goods moving faster and cheaper in America, more jobs where you can earn a good living in America.
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Geraldino: Biden also seemed to be trying to rebrand his "Build Back Better" agenda. He named a lot of similar policies, things intended to boost the economic and social safety net, but he used a slightly different phrase.
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[CONGRESS CHANTS "USA!"]
President Joe Biden: Economists call this "increasing the productive capacity of our economy." I call it "building a better America."
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Biden: My plan to fight inflation will lower your costs and lower the deficit.
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Basu: And just hours before the speech, the Biden administration announced it would release 30 million barrels of oil from the country's strategic reserve. The goal here is to reduce gas prices that have soared because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Geraldino: He also touched on the rising cost of health care, said the country was on the path back to normal when it comes to the pandemic. He called on Congress to protect voting rights and vowed to fund the police. He also outlined a plan to fight cancer and the opioid epidemic and to address the mental health of our nation's veterans.
Basu: Another moment of bipartisan applause during the speech came when President Biden specifically called attention to Justice Stephen Breyer for his retirement. The Justice seemed genuinely surprised and touched by all the attention and the applause. He was smiling, he was clutching his hand to his chest. Even covering his eyes. And the president touted his nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. If confirmed, she'll be the first Black woman to serve on the highest court.
Geraldino: As the "The Atlantic" puts it, "Biden tried to avoid deeply partisan issues in this speech, and instead tried to focus on policies he hopes many Americans can agree with." Susan Glasser at "The New Yorker" described Biden's address as "one that laid out the many crises America's facing right now but that wasn't particularly strong on solutions." And the "Grist" notes that "given the urgency around climate change, Biden's speech was notably absent on how he would confront the world's most serious challenge."
Basu: There were multiple official responses to Biden's speech. The Republican one came from Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, who said Biden was setting the country back and pointed to "runaway inflation," and quote "a violent crime wave." She said Biden's solutions to the nations' many crises were "too little too late." And, this was unusual, there were also three responses to the speech that came from different groups within the Democratic Party. "The Washington Post" called it "a development that may complicate Biden's unity theme."
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Last night, we heard President Biden talk about America's responsibility to Ukraine. Our role as a global leader, a defender of democracy.
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President Joe Biden: Well, I know this nation. We'll meet the test, protect freedom and liberty, expand fairness and opportunity and we will save democracy.
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But for Jonathan Guyer, senior foreign policy writer at "Vox," this moment reveals more about the limits of America's global power.
Jonathan Guyer: I think in the last several years, even before the Trump administration, we've seen the constraints of U.S. power. The U.S. may be a dominant global force, but that doesn't mean it can do or say or achieve everything it wants in the world.
Geraldino: Guyer wrote about this recently, and he says, there was a brief period in time, decades ago, when America truly did dominate the global order.
Guyer: So when the Cold War ends, the U.S. is the undisputed military power in the world. Its economy is great, and the Soviet Union sort of shatters. There is no peer competitor of the United States. And there's this kind of moment where the United States can almost do whatever it wants. And I think this moment was really squandered.
Guyer argues, what really damaged America's standing was 9/11. Not the attacks themselves, but America's response: invading Iraq and Afghanistan. And while the United States was entrenched in 20 years of war in the Middle East, it failed to focus on other foreign policy priorities, including negotiating arms-control agreements with other nuclear countries. Guyer calls this a big misstep.
Guyer: It just wasn't a huge priority. This wasn't something that was very public or a marquee, platform-defining issue over the past decade. And now as the potential, and I wanna emphasize the potential not the reality, of a nuclear standoff, really shows how arms control needs to be a key quotient of how the U.S. operates in the world.
Basu: As global leaders take stock of what's happening in Ukraine, one thing seems to be increasingly clear: the world as it was known after the breakup of the Soviet Union is no longer the same. Yes, Guyer says, America is still a super power, but it's no longer the super power.
Guyer: I think we're seeing that play out right now with Russia's aggression. What the United States is doing with a ton of international allies, so far doesn't seem to be enough to stop Vladimir Putin.
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Geraldino: Let's turn now to the latest developments coming-out of Ukraine. Early this morning blasts were reported across Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. Russian tanks are trying to encircle the city of 3 million people. According to the head of the Ukrainian armed forces, Russian troops are quote "advancing in all directions."
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Basu: Meanwhile, overnight, Russian troops surrounded a key port city. The Russian military says they are now in control of Kherson, making it the first major Ukrainian city that Russia has captured. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, posted a message on Facebook. He said last night was hard for the people of Ukraine, many of whom spent the night in underground shelters.
Geraldino: And the United Nations said Tuesday, so far, nearly 700,000 people have fled Ukraine. It estimates that more than 4 million people could eventually be forced to leave.
Basu: In domestic news, yesterday was the Texas primary, the first of the midterm cycle. For the governor's race, current Governor Greg Abbott held on to the Republican nomination and will go up against Democrat Beto O'Rourke in November. In the attorney general's race, incumbent Ken Paxton will face George P. Bush for the Republican nomination in a May runoff. Trump-endorsed candidates did well across the board. According to "Texas Monthly," all day, people in Texas were posting their frustrations with the state's new election law on social media.
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Geraldino: And Major League Baseball announced a delay for the start of the 2022 regular season. This came after the league and player's union failed to reach a labor deal. This is the first time games are being canceled or postponed because of a work stoppage since the 1994 player's strike.
Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
Geraldino: And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News+ partners.
Basu: We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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