Has anyone seen Sleepy Joe Biden?

I was told the current president is a dementia-addled fool incapable of completing a sentence, but there was a guy standing in his place giving Thursday night’s State of the Union who was fiery, direct, sensible and a far cry from sleepy.

Biden gave one of the strongest election-year State of the Union speeches I’ve witnessed, at a moment when his age and questions of his energy have been nagging narratives in the 2024 presidential campaign.

With Donald Trump effectively nailing down the GOP presidential nomination, this was a moment in which Biden needed to come out swinging, loudly standing up for democracy and drawing a clear line between the two parties and the things they value.

He did that, giving a full-throated defense of democracy and directly calling out Republicans for their embrace of a candidate who denied the result of the last election, fomented an insurrection and bragged about getting Roe v. Wade overturned.

Time after time, as he did in last year’s address, Biden baited Republican lawmakers into booing or hollering, then pivoted to highlight their hypocrisy.

He brought up the border crisis, let the Republicans grouse, then knocked them for letting Trump talk them out of supporting a very conservative and bipartisan border bill.

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Nothing better highlighted Biden’s effectiveness than the ongoing smirks, eyeballs and impish reaction of House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was seated behind the president and seemed to get smaller and smaller as the speech went on.

In the chamber, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wore a garish MAGA hat, looking every bit the clown she has always been. One Republican yelled “Lies!” at one point. Some reportedly left the chamber early, perhaps weary from getting their tails handed to them by a guy they claim is too old and infirm to do the job.

Biden smiled and made cracks at the raucous Republicans. His speech was aggressively political, but hopeful. He stood as a happy political warrior; he joked about his age. And he contrasted himself and his optimism with the darkness of Trump, whom he accurately said tells an “American story of resentment, revenge and retribution.”

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Biden spoke with an inclusive voice: “I see a future for all Americans, I see a country of all Americans, and I will always be president for all Americans.”

At the end of his speech, Biden boomed: “We are the United States of America!”

The frail old man, as Republicans and much of the media have painted him, was anything but Thursday night.

He owned the room. He owned the messy, classless Republicans who refused to stand or applaud even accomplishments that benefit all Americans.

And he, without question, gave voters who’ve been on the fence about him something to think about.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk