[Rick Lee]

Has any SOTU speech really been that groundbreaking? It's a big dog and pony show, no matter the president and no matter the subject. Wasn't Nixon the first one to actually go to the Hill and make the speech before Congress? I think before then the POTUS just wrote it up and sent it over to the Hill. Before tv, it was just a mundane Constitutional formality. Now it's a big political much ado about nothing. I can't stand to watch any of them, just because of the ridiculous interruptions for applause at the end of every other sentence, though I suspect this one might have fewer such interruptions.