The State of the Union Shouldn’t Be Self-care for Presidents

The State of the Union address is often described, charitably, as a tradition. What it has become, really, is a nostalgia act — an aging rock star who can’t hit the high notes. The speech is played out, exhausted. It needs a reboot.

The Constitution, we are reminded at this time of year, mandates that the president of the United States report to Congress on the state of the union “from time to time.”

That said, Article II, Section 3, does not require him to do this in person, late in the evening, for an hour or more, like a dinner guest who keeps on talking while the plates are cleared. Neither is he compelled to bask in the glow of heroes he has placed in the House gallery, or to roam the vast landscape of issues and crises, or to insist, despite appearances, that America’s best days lie ahead.

Yet President Biden, in Tuesday night’s address, will no doubt do all these things — just as he did last year, just as Donald Trump, Barack Obama and others did before him.