Obama’s Final State of the Union Address

Some years back, I met up with American friends who were in town on the day before the Opening of Parliament. One said, “Isn’t the occasion like our State of the Union?” It made me think. Eventually, I answered, “do you want the short or the long answer?” He replied, “Short” and I answered “not really.” Then we got onto other things.

There are fundamental differences between the two ceremonies. The Queen is the titular Head of State. The President is the Commander-in-Chief but he is only de facto Head of State. We in UK have a parliamentary system of government, whereas America’s is presidential but based on separation of powers. However, there is a similar approach to putting on a public show. For example, the President arrives at Congress in a 157 vehicle motorcade. The Queen used to arrive in a gilded coach, drawn by four matching horses. Nowadays she uses one of her Rolls Royce’s. However, she is accompanied by mounted troops, resplendent in their best uniforms and followed by other members of the Royal family. It is quite something to see.

Once inside Congress, the President makes a procession to the rostrum in the House of Representatives, shaking hands and acknowledging colleagues. His speech is ready for him on the dais, where he usually stands for a few minutes, accepting the applause of members of both Houses of Congress, the cabinet members, the Supreme Court justices, the Chiefs of Staff of the armed services and the guests who fill the galleries of the chamber. All are then seated and the President starts his speech.

The Queen’s procession is different. Usually, she wears a long white gown with a train, held by page boys. Once Her Majesty is seated, the peers who comprise the House of Lords sit. An official, known as Black Rod, is despatched to the chamber of the House of Commons. By tradition, its door is closed against him and he uses his long black staff, known as a rod, to knock. When the door opens, Black Rod summonses the members of the Commons, the MPs, to attend the Queen. Led by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, and the cabinet and shadow cabinet, all MPs walk to the bar of the chamber of the House of Lords and stay standing and somewhat squashed while the Queen’s Speech is read.

The speech is written by the government. It is handed to the Queen by the magnificently robed Lord Chancellor. Normally the speech takes ten minutes to read. It is peppered with phrases like “my government.” The speech sets out the legislative agenda for the new parliament. Depending on the majority the government enjoys, a high percentage of the legislation will pass. During the speech, there is no applause and no bobbing up and down, so evident in the State of the Union ceremony. Once the Queen finishes, she leaves the Lords’ chamber first. Then the MPs return to the Commons.

Once the President starts, his speech is interrupted frequently by applause and some of those present in the chamber get to their feet to show approval. Quite often the address starts to resemble a religious service as those present stand up and sit down like yo-yos. Often, the President will mention a legislative agenda but if he faces a hostile Congress, his chances of achieving even a limited program are poor. Hopefully, you will now understand why I said, “not really.”

Since the 1990s, I have often been privileged to watch a President fulfilling one of his constitutional duties, namely to “give to the Congress information of the State of the Union.” Clinton’s messages were often folksy but he knew how to go over the heads of Congress to the millions watching on television. On one occasion, excusing the inability to make a much publicised middle class tax cut, he told Congress “you play the cards you’re dealt.”

Unlike Barak Obama, George W Bush was not blessed with the gift of oratory. On one occasion, he came out with a memorable phrase, “the axis of evil”, referring to Iran, North Korea and other rogue governments seeking weapons of mass destruction. Mostly, though, his addresses were memorable for…not being memorable.

President Obama’s previous ‘States of the Union’ have shown him to be a great orator. However, he used his final State of the Union as if he was an ex-president. He spoke in conversational tones. His speech was mostly contemplative and backward-looking. For example, he regretted the lack of progress on gun control. He also lamented the rancorous Washington politics with Congress so badly deadlocked and hostile.

In a signal passage, he warned in an unsubtle reference to Donald Trump that depicting all Muslims as evil was plain wrong and counter-productive. “When politicians insult Muslims, that doesn’t make us safer. That’s not telling it like it is. It’s just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world.” He also criticised Senator Ted Cruz, another Republican presidential hopeful, who had called for carpet-bombing the Islamic State in Syria, by saying: “Our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesn’t pass muster on the world stage.”

There was an Aaron Sorkin moment, when the President spoke of a new initiative to eliminate cancer. He is putting Vice President Biden in charge. Whether Congress will fund the policy is another matter. It reminded me of an episode of The West Wing when the fictitious President Bartlet wanted to make an apology for concealing his MS from the people. His solution was to find the cure cancer. His advisers stopped him. It’s a pity Mr Obama’s advisers didn’t do likewise. Oncologists the world over will explain that there are more than 300 cancers and to eliminate the disease entirely is pie in the sky. 

In his finale, the President stated, “The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It’s not even close,” he added, implying that no other nation could come near to competing. Quite how this assertion squares with the economic giant that is China, the emerging economies of India and Brazil and the strength of the European Community was left unsaid. And if the US armed forces are so scary, why are the Russians acting with impunity in Ukraine and other hot spots?

For me, the speech was about legacy. The administration has no new legislative initiatives and will spend its final year in office shoring up the achievements of the past seven years. It was also a white flag to the President’s lame-duck status. It seems unlikely that there will be much political progress or development in this administration’s last twelve months of office.