Biden embraces role as healer - but Trump remains king of the spectacle

Donald Trump has the stagecraft but Joe Biden still commands the biggest stage.

A day after the former US president displayed his preternatural genius for spectacle - forcing the Secret Service to pause so he could show bloody defiance after a near-death experience - the spotlight turned back to his beleaguered election opponent.

On Sunday, Biden delivered an Oval Office address for only the third time in his presidency, having previously done so when a deal was reached to avoid a breach of the debt ceiling and to comment on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

The set piece allowed him to demonstrate the power of incumbency, sending a message to Democratic rebels who want the 81-year-old to step aside amid concerns he lacks the mental agility to beat Trump.

The familiar trappings of the Resolute Desk against a backdrop of family photos, window, flags and curtains also sought to project the image of Biden as president rather than candidate, an elder statesman rising above the fray to call for national unity after a traumatic moment.

It was a solemn duty that came with relative ease to a man who, during 36 years in the Senate, made bipartisanship a cornerstone of his political identity.

There is a need to "lower the temperature in our politics", said Biden, his voice more solid and less throaty than during a recent debate and press conference. "And to remember: while we may disagree, we are not enemies."