Mr. President: Make America Great Again By Ending The Garbage Event Known As The State Of The Union

Hot Air ^ | 01/29/18

[Liberty7732]

Normally this is where I’d rattle off a few paragraphs advancing my argument, to wit, that the State of the Union is the lamest official event in American politics (the lamest unofficial event is the White House Correspondents Dinner), enjoyed by no one and valued by attendees only for the opportunity it presents for halfwit virtue-signaling on the cheap.

Do I have to make that argument, though? You’ve all endured this miserable spectacle at some point in your lives. You know firsthand how insufferable it is. Instead of me having to convince you, the burden should be on you to convince me: Why wouldn’t America be better off with the president submitting a written statement to Congress in lieu of a speech, as presidents did for nearly the entire 19th century? It was Thomas Jefferson, a man remembered for his many great ideas, who ended the practice of SOTU oratory. It was Woodrow Wilson, a man remembered for his many terrible ones, who brought it back. Presidents change but the speech is invariably boring, too long, and irrelevant politically despite the massive audience and even more massive hype for it year after year. The tradition of oratory continues because every White House views it as a chance to deliver its message directly to the people at a scale unmatched by anything outside of Super Bowl Sunday. But the idea of the SOTU as a potential gamechanger is a myth. Ariel Edwards-Levy, HuffPost’s chief poll analyst, has written a post every year for the past four years around this time reminding readers that the SOTU never affects the polls. Certainly never long-term. It’s a total nothingburger.

[cyclotic]

I believe that this also implies strongly that Congress must accept the SOTU, whether by reading it or being in the House to hear the speech. These congresscritters who deem themselves too good to attend are in malfeasance of duty.

There are very few enumerated duties of a Congress member. Since they don’t want to do a proper budget, the least they can do sit for a hour and listen to a speech.