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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Kenneth T. Walsh
President Obama
History shows the State of the Union might not be enough to pull Obama out of his slump
When President Obama strides into the
"The State of the Union is a chance for him to reset the conversation," says Democratic pollster Geoff Garin. "It's the platform where he can tell the average American worker and taxpayer it's all about them. That's the message people want to hear. People are really hurting, and he needs to address the needs of people who feel they are living on the edge."
Healthcare will be a major theme, although it's unclear what kind of legislation can pass now that the Democrats have lost their 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in the
For months,
It's unclear how that resolution might happen, but Obama will use his State of the Union speech to attempt to clarify a broader agenda that will include creating jobs, strengthening the overall economy, cutting the deficit, and preserving national security, according to
Meanwhile, Republicans argue that Obama and Democrats in
"The most troubling story line for him is his constantly overpromising and underdelivering," says a prominent
And Brown's underdog victory in Massachusetts has given the
Now, there are signs that Obama will change his approach, at least rhetorically, as he shifts to more of a populist message of siding with everyday Americans against big banks, insurance companies, and Wall Street. One of his latest proposals is to tax banks that received federal bailout money but are now giving huge compensation packages to their top executives.
On a personal level,
But can his State of the Union address make much difference? A review of the history of such speeches doesn't give much cause for
But, even though they were rare, there have been some consequential State of the Union moments. In 1823, James Monroe unveiled the Monroe Doctrine opposing European intervention in the Americas. In 1941, Franklin Roosevelt signaled a new era of American leadership when he declared his support for "four freedoms" around the world: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. In 1996, Bill Clinton used his State of the Union to pronounce that the "era of big government" was over, buying into a conservative view of Washington.
Yet the fact is that the State of the Union address has become a Washington ritual of pomp and circumstance, sound and sometimes fury, often signifying little or nothing of lasting consequence.
The Constitution requires that the president "shall from time to time give to the
John Adams adhered to Washington's approach, but Thomas Jefferson, the third president, criticized such an annual, personal address as a "speech from the throne." Rejecting the idea as too imperial, he submitted his messages to
Between 1801 and 1913, presidents sent yearly reports to
As the mass media grew in importance, President Woodrow Wilson in 1913 went back to giving messages in the House chamber before a joint session of
From 1913 to 1934, presidents adopted a hybrid approach and delivered their annual messages either orally or in writing. In 1923, expanding the public outreach, Calvin Coolidge became the first president to have his speech broadcast on the radio.
As a master communicator, Franklin Roosevelt kept to the oral tradition and began actually calling the annual message a State of the Union address. The name stuck. But, with his health declining, Roosevelt issued his final State of the Union in writing in 1945.
Broadening the public outreach even more, Harry Truman was the first president to give the address on television on Jan. 6, 1947. Lyndon Johnson, seeking the largest viewing audience, became the first president to give his State of the Union in the evening, in 1965. Richard Nixon, safely re-elected in November 1972, sent
In 1982, Ronald Reagan, ever the showman, began asking guests to join the first lady in the gallery of the House chamber, and he would introduce them with great fanfare. This custom has persisted ever since. Often, the guests are people who have performed acts of heroism or public service, illustrate a theme the president wants to emphasize, or are popular in their own right and give the president added luster. Guests over the years have included civil rights icon Rosa Parks and baseball greats Sammy Sosa and Hank Aaron,whom Clinton invited, and Lenny Skutnick, who rescued a drowning person from the freezing Potomac River after a plane crashed in 1982 during a snowstorm and was invited by Reagan.
For many years, to ensure the continuity of government in case of a disaster, one cabinet member has stayed away from the speech by prearrangement, so that someone in the line of succession could take over the presidency if a catastrophe occurred. All other cabinet officials, members of
Another custom has been the dueling reactions in the audience. The president's supporters in
As for Obama, senior
Yet this time, the problems of the country and his own political and public-relations woes might be too severe for one speech, however impressive, to make much difference.
Available at Amazon.com:
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
AMERICAN POLITICS
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State of the Union Obama's Chance to Reset His Presidency | Kenneth T. Walsh
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