Top Moments In State Of The Union History
The annual State of the Union speech isn't just stagecraft: the message is mandated by the U.S. Constitution (trivia alert: Article II, Section 3). It's intended to give Congress a status update on the country and make recommendations where needed, but the tradition has evolved over time.
The history of the address is rich, even if the individual speeches sometimes seem fleeting and forgettable.
"The era of big government is over."
Significance: As much as anything else, the State of the Union speeches are political tools. In a re-election year, with a failed health care proposal and the disastrous 1994 election behind him, Clinton's rhetoric crept towards the middle in an attempt to signal he was a different kind of Democrat. Video / Transcript