State of the Union Address

Article 2, Section 3 . . .

“He shall 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”

• Tonight 1/24/2012– 9:00 PM

• **falls between the South Carolina and Florida presidential

Primaries

• On all the major channels

• Watch for people’s reactions!

• What are the major topics????

• Earn Extra Credit points!

From the White House website www.whitehouse.gov

• Interactive http://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2012

• Facebook, Twitter, iPhone app, live streaming and much

more!

Before the speech

• Before the speech begins, there will be commentary by the reporters on tv.

• They will likely be talking about . . . • the topics to be discussed and pointing out the

different people that are in the room.• Listen closely, as they will probably be

mentioning which member of the President’s Cabinet is not in attendance (on purpose) this year.

• Seating arrangements (more about this later)• Supreme Court (will discuss later)

How does it start?Ordinarily, the President himself is not permitted to enter the House Chamber without the explicit permission of

Congress and for each State of the Union address in which the President is going to read his remarks, a formal "invitation" is made.

As tradition requires, House Speaker John Boehner invited the president to speak to a joint session of Congress. “In the coming year, Republicans will continue our efforts to create an environment for economic growth and job creation, and we welcome an opportunity to hear your new ideas for working with the Congress. Therefore, I am privileged to invite you to deliver an address on the State of the Union on January 24, 2012, before a Joint Session of Congress.”

The White House accepted.

President waits to be announced House Chamber

The President is announced 2011

The President's presence upon entering the House chamber is ceremoniously announced by the U.S. House Sergeant at Arms, who calls out, "Mr. (Madam) Speaker, the President of the United States!"

The President enters 2011

The President enters the chamber to a standing ovation and spends several minutes greeting members of Congress and walking toward the podium at the front and center of the House chamber.

President Obama greets members of Congress 2011

President George W. Bush shakes the hand of Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson as he arrives on the House floor at the U.S. Capitol Monday, Jan. 28, 2008, to deliver his 2008 State of the Union address. Looking on are Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

A previous year, President Bush enters the room and shakes hands.

Copies of the Speech

Once there, the President hands copies of the address to the Vice President of the United States (as President of the Senate) and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, both of whom sit behind the President for the duration of the speech. If either is unavailable, the next highest-ranking member of the respective house substitutes.

A previous year

presenting the written speech to the Speaker of the House

Vice President

Speaker of the House

President

This is what it looked like last year

Who is in the audience?

Sitting near the front of the chamber are

• the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

• the Justices of the Supreme Court

• the members of the President's Cabinet.

• Customarily, one cabinet member (the

designated survivor) does not attend, in order to

provide continuity in the line of succession in the

event that a catastrophe disables the President, the

Vice President, and other succeeding officers

gathered in the House chamber.

• also present, Members of Congress

                      

A previous year

The President’s Cabinet

In previous years, the room was divided by political party.

Last year was different!

Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn

The Speech – what is it about?

• In the State of the Union the President traditionally outlines the administration's accomplishments over the previous year,

• as well as the agenda for the coming year in upbeat and optimistic terms.

• At some point during the speech, the President usually says "The State of our Union is strong" or a very similar phrase.

• Since the 1982 address, it has also become common for the President to acknowledge special guests sitting near the First Lady in the gallery, such as everyday Americans or visiting Heads of State.

• The guests are usually relevant to some part of the President's speech.

Michelle Obama

Laura Bush

EXTRA CREDIT

• 6 points available• 1 point - parent signature

• 1 point – which Cabinet member is not

there?

• 2 points – topics: write down 2 topics

discussed (1 point each)

• 2 points - your reactions and thoughts: (1

point each)