The State of the Union (SOTU) response has turned into a curse. What should in theory be a prime platform for the party out of presidential power to showcase one if its rising stars often turns into a nose dive.
The response to the President’s annual SOTU or joint session to Congress has proven over the years to be riddled with mistakes. Many of those who have been (un)lucky enough to get the assignment are more than capable of giving a speech, so what causes the occasion to often be such a disappointment?
SETTING/PRESENTATION
Rebutting the SOTU without the prestige of the floor of the House of Representatives with the full Congress in attendance is impossible. For viewers, since the SOTU is television programming, the setting of the response usually sticks out in a bad way. Both Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Governor Bobby Jindal (R-LA) struggled on presentation in their responses and delivered their addresses to an empty audience. Rubio is most remembered for reaching for his water bottle off-camera while Jindal was ridiculed by Jon Stewart for giving a “Mr. Rogers-esque” delivery. On the Democratic side, Joe Kennedy (D-MA) had to answer for having a gallon of Chapstick on and former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear (D-KY) gave his response in a diner, with fellow diners sitting stiffly in silence and all facing the same direction.
PREPARATION
So how is somebody supposed to prepare for a response when they haven’t even heard what is supposed to be responded to? Because the response happens immediately following the President, it has the potential to seem out of touch with what the President has just said and seem totally canned, especially on top of the setting issues referred to above. Further, as advocates of the middle ground, we often don’t see enough time spent on where both parties do agree.
Perhaps responses would be better if there was more time spent on what unites as opposed to what divides us.
CONCLUSION
To be clear, many people who have delivered responses to the SOTU have gone on to have accomplished political careers including Nikki Haley (R-SC) who was appointed UN Ambassador by President Trump, Paul Ryan (R-WI) a VP nominee and former Speaker of the House, and Tim Kaine (D-VA) another VP nominee.
What we’re most interested in, of course, is breaking the curse. Maybe more bipartisanship is the key?
Cheers to hoping Stacey Abrams (D) from Georgia can break it.