A modern-day invention that many of us now criticize is the annual “State of the Union” Address (SOTU) before a Joint Session of Congress.
It is often erroneously referred to as an “annual” Constitutional requirement. The Constitution does require the President to provide information to Congress on the SOTU “from time to time.” Woodrow Wilson was the first to deliver a SOTU address before a Joint Session of Congress, in 1913. But it wasn’t until John F. Kennedy’s Administration that its modern-day format took permanent hold. In 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower delivered the speech both in writing and in a national radio address. It’s not been done like that since. We can probably thank the advent of television for that. In all, there have been 85 in person addresses. I think I’ve seen about half of them, maybe more.
And since Ronald Reagan’s presidency, every President has delivered a SOTU address in his first year. Trump’s first SOTU was the latest delivered, on this day four years ago (February 28, 2017). It was also Ronald Reagan, previously a well-known Hollywood movie actor, who introduced the concept of recognizing special guests in the visitors’ gallery. The first one - Lennie Skutnik (seen below, next to First Lady Nancy Reagan in 1983), the first responder who famously saved a woman’s life from the Florida Flight 90 crash into the Potomac River on a cold January morning in 1982. Every President since has employed it to increasing degrees, and none more so than President Donald Trump. Last year, he surprisingly awarded the Medal of Freedom to the late Rush Limbaugh, who was seated next to the First Lady.
We still have no time or date for Joseph R. Biden’s first SOTU. Why is that? Some quickly blame the January 6th violence at the Capitol. Acting Capitol Police Chief, Yogananda Pittman, during a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing last week, blamed threats of blowing up Congress during Biden’s first SOTU from militia groups allegedly tied to the January 6th violent attack on the US Capitol.
But we still have some 5,000 National Guard troops stationed at the Capitol (down from over 20,000), plus Baghdad-style “green zone” that envelopes the US Capitol for several blocks. Where is the threat of a massive militia force that can overcome that?
The main reason is probably COVID, despite over 60 million Americans - including the President and most of Congress, who began receiving their jabs before last Christmas - having been administered at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. New infection, hospitalization and death rates are all now in rapid decline. Some of the worst lockdown states, including Pennsylvania and Virginia, are easing restrictions.
There is another, more conspiracy-laden reason that I hesitate to mention, because I want it not to be true. That Joe Biden is not really up to giving the address. If he can survive on a debate stage with Donald Trump for 90 minutes, he can deliver a SOTU address.
But there is a very good fourth reason for the SOTU not happening, and it’s my favorite:
No one really misses it. We all have better things to do. We really aren’t that interested in the spectacle. Television audiences are highest for the first one, and drop of significantly after that. Here’s chart that shows how the audiences have been on the decline for awhile now, courtesy of Statista.com.
Number of Viewers of State of the Union Addresses, 1993-2020
The SOTU address has become a carnival on steroids. And the side shows start weeks before the speech within the Executive Branch, with every Cabinet secretary looking to have his or her agenda, or parts of it, included in what has become a laundry list of policy proposals, mostly involving money and political priorities. No agency wants to be left out. That is why the speech is often the longest one a President will make. Bill Clinton’s SOTU speeches routinely exceeded an hour, and his last one hold the record as the longest in history at just under 89 minutes. As a former speechwriter (including writing speeches for a Cabinet secretary), I would sometimes wake in a cold sweat from a nightmare of being assigned to write a SOTU.
But now Members of Congress have gotten into the act. It began with Congress’s biggest showboats arriving in the House chamber several hours before the speech to claim valuable real estate next to the center aisle. The purpose? To be captured on television shaking hands with the President. Then there are the dozens of up-and-down applause lines, with one half of the chamber rising in uproarious applause, with the other side sitting, solemn and stone faced. It is comical.
Members of Congress also are provided a guest pass for the gallery (the President and the Speaker each gets to invite 24 guests). Staff would sometimes fight over who got the pass. But now, House and Senate members make a big deal about including a special guest from their district or state, complete with press releases to, again, score some political points back home.
And don’t forget the drama around which Cabinet secretary would be designed the “lone survivor,” kept away from the Capitol for continuity of government, you know, just in case. I would volunteer for that role if I ever became a cabinet secretary, happy to sit at home with a pizza and a favorite adult beverage.
Then of course there’s the “official response,” now responses, to the SOTU by the party out of power. There are lots of instances of careers and ambitions hitting speed bumps with mistakes and miscues during a speech few watch, but does make into the 10th paragraph of wire stories. Also, Statuary Hall, which was the House chamber until 1860 and located between the House chamber and the Capitol Rotunda becomes a giant spin room where Members of Congress to pontificate with their reactions to the speech to any number of cameras and microphones.
The whole spectacle is rarely memorable, changes few minds, and ultimately has little, if any, affect on the body politic. Jaundiced from watching these spectacles for more than 40 years, I am always reminded of the famous line from Shakespeare’s MacBeth, Act 5. The SOTU address spectacle has become “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
So, let me offer some rare praise to our new President for forgoing this event. At least for now. Maybe he could just mail it in. That would be fine.