Biden Gives Fiery Speech And Lays Out 2024 Agenda, Vowing To ‘Finish The Job’

President Biden delivered a rousing State of the Union address to a divided Congress Tuesday night, snapping back at Republican hecklers, and sounding very much like a man planning to run for re-election in 2024. “Jobs are coming back, pride is coming back, because of the choices we made in the last two years,” Mr. Biden said. “This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America and make a real difference in your lives.”

Mr. Biden said he’d signed more than 300 bipartisan laws since becoming president, including a “once-in-a-generation infrastructure law,” a law banning toxic burn pits, and the Respect for Marriage Act “that protects the right to marry the person you love.”

Here are three key takeaways from the president’s speech that strongly suggest Biden’s running in ‘24:

‘Let’s finish the job’

Throughout his speech, which ran an hour and 13 minutes—11 minutes longer than his speech one year ago—Mr. Biden returned again and again to the phrase “let’s finish the job,” which sounded a lot like a campaign slogan. “And folks, we’re just getting started. We’re just getting started,” the president said. “We’re not finished yet by any stretch of the imagination. Let’s finish the job. There’s more to do.”

Mr. Biden vowed to “finish the job” on police reform, on banning assault weapons, and making the nation’s most successful corporations pay their “fare share” of taxes. “Let’s finish the job and close the loopholes that allow the very wealthy to avoid paying their taxes,” Mr. Biden said. “I’m a capitalist. But just pay your fair share,” he said, using the kind of language that defined his campaign for the White House. “I think a lot of you at home agree with me that our present tax system is simply unfair…because no billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a school teacher or a firefighter.”

‘Americans are tired of being played for suckers’

Breaking from the often lofty language of the State of the Union address, Mr. Biden spoke past the Congress and directly to Americans, promising to fix the things that irritate people, like “junk fees,” those hidden surcharges businesses use to make people pay more, such as bank overdraft fees, late fees, and airlines that charge families extra just to sit together.

“Junk fees may not matter to the very wealthy, but they matter to most folks in homes like the one I grew up in,” the president said. “They add up to hundreds of dollars a month. They make it harder for you to pay the bills or afford that family trip. I know how unfair it feels when a company overcharges you and gets away with it. Not anymore.”

Mr. Biden’s Junk Fee Prevention Act would ban “resort fees” on hotel bills and penalties cable internet and cell phone companies charge when people switch to another provider. It’s not the kind of visionary legislation that presidents often pitch during State of the Union addresses, but definitely something that might hit home with voters.

“Americans are tired of being played for suckers. Pass the Junk Fee Prevention Act so companies stop ripping us off. For too long, workers have been getting stiffed. Not anymore.”

‘Contact my office’

Ahead of the State of the Union address, CNN’s Chris Wallace said the stakes for Mr. Biden would be very high, and that the president needed to “come off as vigorous and ready for six more years on the job.”

A poll just two days before the speech found that just 37% of Democrats want Mr. Biden to seek a second term, down from 52% in the weeks before last year’s midterm elections. Interviews with poll respondents found many believing that the 80-year-old president is too old for the job.

But the Joe Biden that showed up for the State of the Union address was vigorous and ready—including for Republicans who heckled him:

Mr. Biden was booed by Republicans when he suggested that some in their party wanted to end Social Security and Medicare, referring to a plan released last year by Florida Sen. Rick Scott that would sunset all federal laws after five years unless Congress voted to prolong them.

As Republicans jeered and shouted “liar,” Mr. Biden seemed to relish the political jousting, saying “we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right? They’re not to be touched?”

Was it the beginning of Mr. Biden’s re-election campaign? It sure looked like it—right down to the president’s exit after the speech, taking his time talking, shaking hands and posing for photos—leading some on cable news to wonder if Mr. Biden would be the last one to leave the House chamber.