Another State of the Union has come and gone. I haven’t actually read every one of those reports that span more than a couple hundred years, but ever since George Washington fulfilled his duty under Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution to “from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union,” most of the other Presidents have followed suit. (Only those who died in office early in their terms didn’t.)

George delivered his message in person. Thomas Jefferson, rogue that we was, just sent his message in writing – as did presidents for the next 100 years. Woodrow Wilson took the trip down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol in 1913, thus establishing the tradition still in vogue today.

Members of Congress meet in a Joint Session in the House Chamber basically to hear how great the sitting President thinks America is doing under his watch. I’m guessing even if you read every word of every State of the Union Address, you’d never find any President even hinting at things being absolutely rotten, even if they were. Not one of them ever probably came right out and said, “I gotta tell ya. The state of the Union is the pits.”

Today’s reports usually last somewhere around 45-50 minutes, broken up numerous times with applause (or, in some cases, murmurs of dissent). Washington’s speech in 1790 was all of 833 words long and took ten minutes. Donald Trump made a run at it, but Bill Clinton holds the record for the longest such speech. He carried on for almost an hour and a half in 2000. I’m guessing even Hillary had to pinch herself a couple of times to stay awake through that one.

While the early presidents probably wrote most of their own messages, today pretty much every word of every sentence undoubtedly gets a thorough vetting. Especially in this age of political correctness, it’s important to avoid offending anyone or inadvertently sending the wrong message to friend or foe.

It might well have been very entertaining to listen in on White House discussions just prior to President Trump’s final version of his speech. As it was, he stuck to a few basic themes – the new tax overhaul, immigration, infrastructure and transportation, trade, and terrorism/threats around the world. He definitely was happy to take credit for a lot of things, but that’s certainly not unheard of in a State of the Union Address. All Presidents enjoy touting what they feel are their successes while ignoring items that might not have turned out the way they liked.

Even though members on one side of the chamber purposely only gave their legs a workout when the President paid homage to the heroes surrounding the First Lady, there were some occasional up and down head nods. Not many, mind you. But Mr. Trump’s immigration proposal and ideas for fixing the nation’s infrastructure sparked an obvious interest in at least some of the loyal opposition in attendance.

In the hours before the speech, reports were that the tone of the evening was going to be much more conciliatory than confrontational. An argument could be made that for Donald Trump, he was being a bit less “my way or the highway,” and he did stress the idea that “Together, we can achieve anything.”

But given the final product, you have to wonder what was originally included in the text that ended up being cut. For example, after thanking the VP and Speaker of the House, was there initially a line that read, “And it’s good to see Cryin’ Chuck Schumer in the audience tonight. Ditto Nancy Pelosi. Geez, what a mess she is,” in an original draft?

Mr. Trump might also have wanted to say, “What’s wrong with you people? Can’t you see we need that Wall? What’s so hard to understand about the term “illegal” alien? They broke the law. You want them living next door to you? I didn’t think so.” Or, “Have you checked your 401k lately? Go ahead, I’ll wait. Believe me, it’s huge.” But such rhetoric was toned down just a bit. Not enough for applause from the Democrats, but at least they waited until the finish to bolt for the exits.

You know, back in 1965, Lyndon Johnson spoke to a similar gathering. He had just been elected in a landslide, and his party held a vast majority in both the House and Senate. But even LBJ was having enough issues that he felt the need to say this: “Though total agreement between the Executive and the Congress is impossible, total respect is important.” Hey, now there’s a thought.

©MMXVIII. William J. Lewis, III – Freelance Writer