5 Takeaways from President Biden's State of the Union address

President Biden didn't waste any time in his primetime State of the Union address drawing a sharp contrast with his likely 2024 presidential rival, former President Donald Trump.

Instead of a policy heavy laundry list speech, the president leaned into politics, and at times, shouted and amped up Democrats with some fiery rhetoric.

Early in his speech he derided Trump, without mentioning his name, chastising those who failed to heed the threat from Russian President Putin to Ukraine, and denouncing those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The atmosphere in the House chamber often seemed more like a political convention than the annual required speech assessing the state of the nation.

Here are five takeaways.

1. He took on Trump extensively on wide range of policies

The president referred to policies or comments from "my predecessor" more than a dozen times, making it clear the high stakes televised speech was his campaign roadmap for his rematch with Trump in November.

The president leaned into the issues that energize his base, like abortion and gun control, and tax hikes on the wealthy. But he also attempted to challenge Republicans in the chamber, and Trump outside of it, on issues like the border and crime, areas where he faces skepticism from many independent and suburban voters.

The president, who is 81, had a bar to clear to alleviate concerns from some in his own party about his age and capacity to hold the demanding job as commander in chief for four more years.

He stuck mostly to his script, was energetic and appeared to fire up Democrats in the chamber, who occasionally chanted, "Four more years!" and jumped to their feet cheering the president.

Biden also worked to flip the age issue against his