found online by Raymond
From nojo at Stinque:
The State of the Union address is one of our grandest political traditions.
It is also one of the silliest.
It begins with Honorable Congresscritters jockeying for aisle position where the Preznident walks in, the better to be caught on camera in the presence of American power. It continues with the ritual standing ovations from one half of the room or the other, plus the obligatory cutaways to Humble Citizens mentioned in the laundry-list speech. Finally, everyone sits on edge to hear whether the State of our Union is, indeed, strong, which would be the only surprise of the evening if it wasn’t.
Not only is it silly, it’s completely unnecessary