When President Joe Biden finished his rousing call to face down Vladimir Putin‘s invading forces in Ukraine the music began: Coldplay’s ‘A Sky Full of Stars’ blared through the PA system.
Much to the confusion of the tens of thousands of Poles and Ukrainians packed into the grounds of the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
‘We would have an old standard, classical music or folk when the president speaks,’ said broadcaster Pawel Sztompke.
‘This music was pop. We didn’t know this song was special for President Biden.’
He spent Wednesday explaining to his Radio Polskie audience that the song had been a favorite of Biden’s late son Beau.
President Joe Biden walked out beneath a spectacular light show before tens of thousands Polish and Ukrainians in Warsaw on Tuesday evening to deliver a speech marking the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rallying allies to action
But it came with the visual trappings of a campaign rally, including children from the local American school waving flags. Biden is believed to be planning a 2024 run
But regular Biden watchers will also know the track is a consistent part of his campaign playlist. It often provides his walk-off music and it was the soundtrack for a drone and firework show when victory in the 2020 election was finally called.
It was just one of the clues that Tuesday’s speech was more than a presidential address. It was potentially fodder for campaign videos.
American children waving American flags
At the end of his speech he was mobbed by children of different ethnicities clutching American flags, as well as the red and white of Poland, and the Blue and Yellow of Ukraine.
‘These did not look like Polish kids, if you know what I mean,’ said a local journalist who discovered the children were students at the local American school.
Biden’s address was preceded by the sort of American playlist that evokes recent Democratic campaigns: Think Bruce Springsteen mixed with Beyonce.
And his entrance could not have been more dramatic. Night had already fallen on the spectacular castle backdrop. A smoke machine poured clouds into the air, showing off spotlights beaming skywards.
There was even a jumbotron.
Biden may not have declared that he is running. But this is what it might very well look like.
Democratic strategist Nick Ryan said it reflected how the 2024 election cycle had effectively begun on November 9, the day after the midterms.
‘I don’t want to say these sorts of international trips are political in nature, per se, but I think the reality is that he knows, and his team knows, that everything, everything that he does over the next 18 months is going to be perceived that way and they’re mindful of that,’ he told DailyMail.com.
The Warsaw mayor’s office said some 30,000 people attended the speech, waiting out in cold, wintry conditions to listing to Biden rail against Russian aggression
As well as Polish and Ukrainian flags, American flags were distributed to attendees
Biden condemned Russia for crimes against humanity. But the end of speech brought a carnival atmosphere. Biden was all smiles as he posed with children
Made-to-measure clips for campaign videos
Foreign policy may not factor into how Americans cast their vote for president, but international travel is a chance to show leadership. And that does matter in elections, said Brad Bannon who runs a political polling and consulting firm.
You can almost hear the campaign team starting to cut together campaign videos from Monday’s walkabout in Kyiv with President Volodomyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s wartime leader, and from the stirring speech the next night.
‘The whole trip was made to order for a presidential reelection campaign,’ he said.
‘Obviously he sent a strong message to Ukrainians, and the Russians, but at the same time, it was made to order for demonstrating strong leadership in Biden’s reelection campaigns.
‘It’s a classic win win … for policy and for politics.’
The 2020 campaign talking point
Biden took his time leaving, shaking hands and posing for pictures with wellwishers
The speech was the major setpiece event of Biden’s four-day trip to Eastern Europe
The choice between chaos and stability
He hit talking points that reflected his 2020 campaign as he railed against Russia’s invasion, and hailed the strength of democracies.
By setting out a timeline of the next five years, he rather extended his time in office almost to the end of second term.
‘The decisions we make over the next five years or so are going to determine and shape our lives for decades to come,’ said Biden.
‘The choice between chaos and stability, between building and destroying, between hope and fear, between democracy, [which] lifts up the human spirit, and the brutal hand of the dictator who crushes it.’
The choice between chaos and stability was pretty much his entire 2020 campaign message.
Biden said the future offered a choice between chaos and stability. What could he mean?
The trip to Ukraine and Poland offered possibilities galore for cutting campaign videos, said Brad Bannon, who runs a political polling and consulting firm
Biden took a 10-hour train journey to arrive for a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday morning
And even his selection of words echoed his Democratic convention acceptance address.
Then he contrasted the Trump years with his promise of better times, promising to be ‘an ally of the light, not of the darkness.’
Now, on Tuesday evening, he set out ‘an abiding commitment to be allies not of darkness, but of light,’ as NBC News spotted.
Biden harnessed the presidential bully pulpit
Some Republicans said the music and lights were out of step with the severity of the message.
‘We just saw President Biden giving this what seemed to me like a campaign speech in Warsaw, Poland, as if this was some kind of kickoff for his 2020 for re election,’ said conservative activist Jack Posobiec on Judge Napolitano’s podcast, ‘rather than a speech that was meted with any type of severity given the weight of the things that he’s talking about.’
Democrats saw a presidential figure, delivering a presidential message at a lectern decorated with the presidential seal.
That brings a clear contrast with Republicans throwing bombs in the culture wars or former President Donald Trump’s slinging mud at rival Ron DeSantis, said Ryan.
‘I think putting himself on stages where he is Commander in Chief is a chance to project stability,’ he said. ‘And you split screen that with Trump saying that Ron DeSantis is a groomer.
‘I think it creates a pretty clear contrast for voters to look at and see what each each side stands for.’
