Column: Decorum at the State of the Union address
President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on March 1 was the first time I have watched and scrutinized such a historical event as an adult citizen who is now capable of voting.
Dr. Jason Munsell, interim communication and emerging media department chair and expert in political rhetoric, helped me understand the purpose of a State of the Union address. To summarize, it should reflect a shared national identity, assess the information and issues present in forming a more perfect union and recommend and justify future legislative initiatives while preserving and strengthening the presidency itself. Though Biden was unsuccessful in summoning a shared national identity that we are all desperate to achieve, he addressed a few issues and legislative initiatives that caught my attention.
Biden announced that the federal government is finally distributing free COVID-19 tests by mail upon request. It certainly took long enough, seeing as how cases are steadily declining after two full years in the pandemic. Biden’s open support for women’s right to choose as well as maternal healthcare was especially powerful as states around the country sneakily attempt to pass legislation to combat the Roe v. Wade (1973) precedent. He recognized Frances Haugen, a former data engineer and scientist at Facebook, whistleblower and activist, stating that “we must hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on our children for profit.”
I could not help but notice that not only were there 136 applause breaks during President Biden’s unusually fluent hour-long speech, certain United States representatives cheered, booed and chanted unifying and separatist phrases as well. I was embarrassed that we, as Americans, treat such a serious gathering like the State of the Union address in response to being on the brink of war with another global superpower as if we were watching a sitcom.
This tradition seems to have taken hold during former President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration (1953–1961). Below is a bar chart depicting the rise in applause breaks at State of the Union addresses over the past fifty years. Former President Bill Clinton’s (1993–2001) status as an outlier can likely be attributed to the fact that his State of the Union addresses were the longest in American history.
Not only was approximately a quarter of the total delivery time of the State of the Union address almost exclusively clapping, some representatives had the audacity to boo and chant “U.S.A.” and “build the wall.” The “boo” came as a response from Democrats to Biden’s mention of the $2 trillion tax loophole passed during former President Donald Trump’s administration, three-quarters of which “benefitted the top 1% of Americans.” The “U.S.A.” chant began after Biden suggested that “Instead of relying on foreign supply chains, (we should) make (what we can) in America.” House representative of Georgia’s 14th district, Majorie Taylor Greene, led the chant that Colorado House representative Lauren Boebert (who is originally from Florida) joined in on, screaming “build the wall.” Though no major news outlets confirmed this fact, it is apparent from the live stream footage that Ralph Norman, House representative of South Carolina’s 5th district, which is centrally located just north of Columbia, also joined Greene and Boebert in their cries.
While I am not objectionable to the reasoning behind booing Trump’s tax loophole, the interruption was unnecessary. Booing is a hostile means of communication intended to be used to express dissatisfaction in an entertainment capacity, therefore a serious lecture from the President of the United States in response to an imminent world war is not the time for this kind of behavior. Most of us know that “the 26 richest people in the world have as much accumulated wealth as the poorest 3.8 billion people” and intentionally contributing to excessive greed is not honorable, but the booing did nothing to counteract these facts and instead made a mockery of those representatives as well as the speech itself.
The “U.S.A.” chant could be construed as an act of solidarity, but the House floor is not the summer Olympics. We all knew what country was in question; the chant did nothing to clarify this point and was unfitting of the gravitas of such an important gathering.
The uneducated call from select southerners to “build the wall” was the most embarrassing of the three outbursts. Two-fifths of all undocumented immigrants in America are visa overstayers and the majority of the rest take jobs that Americans do not want and pay taxes on their earned income for benefits they cannot take advantage of. The confidence Trump brought the alternative right (alt-right) when he asserted that this wall would keep violent criminals, drug dealers and rapists out was unbased, as “extensive criminological research has shown time and time again that foreign-born people have considerably lower crime rates than do the U.S.-born.” His supporters cling to the “othering” politics that further drives us apart and prevents change from taking place. This year’s State of the Union address is stained with ignorance as a result of these three deplorable representatives who should be denied their incumbent spots at the 2022 midterm elections.
Though Biden’s State of the Union address was unnecessarily interrupted by what should be recognized as completely inappropriate behavior, it was successful in driving his approval rating up eight points to 47%. Regardless, these historical events should be approached with dignity and respect in silence if we expect to maintain our global reputation as a serious country united through change.
