Last Tuesday evening, the President gave the annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1790. The State of the Union address is required by the U.S. Constitution. Article II, Section 3 states: The president \u201cshall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.\u201d The Constitution doesn\u2019t define \u201cfrom time to time\u201d but by tradition the president delivers his message once each year. Only two presidents never delivered a State of the Union address \u2014 William Henry Harrison and James Garfield. Both died before they had the chance to deliver their messages. The first radio broadcast of the address was in 1923 by President Calvin Coolidge. The first broadcast on television was Harry Truman\u2019s address in 1947.<\/p>\n
No matter what your view of the current president may be, the State of the Union address on Tuesday sounded mostly \u201cpresidential.\u201d He started his speech by saying, \u201cThe agenda I will lay out this evening is not a Republican agenda or a Democrat agenda.\u201d He promised a new era of cooperation. He talked about infrastructure, lowering the cost of health care, protecting patients with preexisting conditions, eliminating HIV, and fighting childhood cancer. He indicated he was the first president to include a plan for nationwide paid family leave in his budget.
\nHard to argue with any of that \u2014 even though, as far as I know, he hasn\u2019t submitted his budget indicating how seriously any of the issues will be addressed. But it was at least nice to hear the President of the United States, for the most part, actually sound \u201cpresidential\u201d for a change.
\nThere were a lot of good lines delivered Tuesday night \u2014 of course it’s more important to see what this administration does than to listen to what was said during the State of the Union.
\n\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n
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Last Tuesday evening, the President gave the annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1790. The … Continue reading