Why It Wasn’t a ‘State of the Union’ Address

The first address by the president to a joint session of Congress is called just that: an ‘address’

Quick civics lesson. I just learned this myself and thought I would share it with you. You may be wondering why President Biden’s first major address to a joint session of Congress was not called the “State of the Union.” Isn’t that what we call the annual address? The red team sits on one side, the blue team on the other, and they applaud and scowl at alternating moments throughout the evening. It’s a stodgy football game — tennis match? I don’t know; I’m not a sports guy — of politics, policy, and pride.

The event has its own initialism: SOTU — like POTUS, SCOTUS, and SHOTUS (Second Husband of the United States, a.k.a. “Doug”). Actually, I think he’s officially called the Second Gentleman. I seem to be the only one following Doug on Medium. Hmmm, maybe that’s not him. Is Doug on Twitter? Yes, he is. Follow Doug here. Doug was there, too, last night, which was equally groundbreaking. He sat at least six feet away from Dr. Jill Biden, community college professor and muse for Biden’s education plan. Both were masked and modestly clapping.

Anyway, when things are really tense, like they were in 2020, the Speaker rips up the speech behind the back of the President — an explosive made-for-meming moment fit for the chaos of the former reality-television president. Yes, that was only last year. One year ago. It feels like five, even ten. How innocent we all were then. We had no idea what was coming: Lysoling the groceries, masked dating, drinking at 11am, over a year working from the dining room table. Before all of this, just weeks before, Pelosi tore up Trump’s “manifesto of mistruths” with her aerosols liberally flying everywhere.

Last night, the same Speaker sat behind the new president, but the context, the state of the country, and the format of the evening were wildly different. Our representatives were spaced out in the hall. The Vice President and Speaker were masked (they were also both female). And the usual crowd was pared down from 1,600 to 200, thanks to our dear friend COVID-19. The altered structure seemed to be successful, actually, focusing on Biden’s message instead of shots of the clapping crowd.