I have been observing the national political scene for many years. My memory goes back (vaguely) to Dwight Eisenhower’s second campaign in 1956, but John Kennedy’s run for the White House was the first that caught my attention. My first vote was in the 1964 election, and I was disappointed when my candidate lost. Since then, the winning candidates have given an annual State of the Union Addresses, and their first have always been an attempt to place a positive spin on how that initial year in office was successful.
It was an interesting exercise to try to equate what those men claimed were the highlights of governing and my memory of what actually happened. And let’s face the truth — most of those speeches were not memorable. Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, H. W. Bush, Clinton, W. Bush and Obama did have some positives to tout, but one year was not enough time to enact their campaign agenda, especially when the party out of power opposed many of the initiatives presented.
When teaching History and Government to Junior High and High School students, I would sometimes give generous bonuses for those students who would watch a State of the Union Address. In almost forty years of teaching, I doubt that five even did so.
But last night I decided (or more accurately, I was coerced) into watching all hour and twenty minutes of President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union speech. Following are some of my impressions of that speech.
First, I was not surprised, but quite pleased, that the President did not resort to his “tweeting” personality, and did not demonize his opponents. Devoid of the personal attacks on them, those who have opposed Trump and his policies from the beginning of his Presidency had to search for some “hidden” triggers to criticize what was said.
One of the most effective strategies Trump used was the highlighting of those he and the First Lady, Melania, invited to be guests at the event. He would talk about one of his attempts to better the nation for minorities or for safety, then spotlight the work or sacrifice of one of his guests. Perhaps the most moving was the young man from North Korea who endured great hardship in order to defect from the Hermit Kingdom. When he help up the crutches he had used to walk away from his homeland, the applause and cheering was almost deafening.
After a year of vicious opposition from Democrats and the left, Trump listed an amazing string of accomplishments from his first year in office. Leading off with the economy, he cited all the economic gains made in America. His self-serving claim that no other first-year President had done as well is really well founded. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed and signed just before Christmas in 2017 have fueled an economic revival and has already put money in the pockets of ordinary Americans. The number of firms that have used the lowering of the corporate tax rate to reward their workers and expand their businesses is now over 200 and more than three million Americans have seen their pocketbooks fattened. Today, two more companies have come out as investing in their employees and businesses — Exxon Mobil and Honeywell. To chronicle all of them would take more space that allowed here! In addition, Trump touted the effort to roll back regulations that crippled businesses and innovation.
One of his early signal achievements Trump touted was his appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
Trump’s most controversial topic was immigration. He set forth four “pillars” as the framework for a comprehensive immigration policy for America. These pillars have been out in the public for a couple of weeks, to they were not a surprise. What did somewhat surprise me was the amount of time he spent on them. Although all four were eminently reasonable, he would not be able, in such a forum, to convince those who have already claimed the proposal was dead on arrival.
I also felt the nation should be proud to have First Lady who was as poised and elegant at Melania Trump. She was shown with her guests, frequently interacting with them when they were mentioned by her husband. Perhaps we have the most photogenic and stylish First Lady since Jackie Kennedy, and all Americans, regardless of what they think of Donald Trump, can point to Melania and claim this gracious, beautiful woman as our own.
One of the other striking visuals was the refusal of the Democrats to applaud or stand for the major points the President made. About 115 times, the audience erupted in applause, many of them standing ovations. But perhaps (with apologies to Pat Sajak) they were simply glued to their seats. Even when items that the Democrats were on the record favoring, they sat. Great strides in seeing the lowering of black and Hispanic joblessness were met with stony faces and seated Democrats. Initiatives to counter the opioid crisis, the call for infrastructure improvement, and faster drug approval found no cheering from the minority party. One extremely bad visual was the abrupt departure toward the end of the speech of Illinois Democratic Representative Luis Gutierrez, an outspoken advocate of immigration and Hispanic rights. (His explanation, given afterwards, was of an appointment.) Even when the audience chanted “USA, USA”, there were no Democrats joining in; one of those times was when Gutierrez walked out.
One disappointment was the lack of an effective call for bipartisan cooperation on the part of the two parties. Although this was hinted at, perhaps a full-throated appeal to such working together would have been better.
Trump went all out at the end of his speech in calling for a revival of American patriotism, referring to our national motto, flag and anthem. It was a stirring end to what I would consider a good speech; not great, but far better than average.