March 28, 2024

#SOTU

Editor’s note: This column first published Feb. 1, 2018.

A little pub on the corner of Washington and Linn Streets in Iowa City is where my college friends shared a winter tradition. We would each order a beer with the hoppiest taste on tap, fill a couple of baskets of popcorn and settle in under a wall-mounted TV.

We’d ask the bartender to change the station from the soccer match or basketball game providing background noise for the few weekday patrons bellied up to the bar and turn on CNN.

The prime-time news coverage would be fixated to a sea of upper middle-aged white men, and the small number minorities and woman that make up our government while commentators provided pre-analysis of the American pastime that was about to unfold.

It was almost time for our State of the Union watch party. It was the waning years of the George W. Bush administration. The county had been at war for several years, and Bush was about to announce the Iraqi Surge of 2007 — a counter insurgency strategy meant to get our military effort back on track. Our economy had not yet hit recession, but we were beginning to see whispers of the housing crisis to come.

I was aware of the political climate and precarious situation the country was in, but at 21 years old, it was much more entertaining to make bets on how many times the president would say the word “terror” in his speech with a pint of Bud Light as the buy-in. Other words on the table were “America,” “Iraq,” “patriot” and “Al-Qaeda.” It was an immature way for our young minds to process the gravity of the State of the Union.

It was easier for us to make a game out of the speech then analyze how the policy and rhetoric in the script would begin to affect our lives the very next day. Meanwhile, our men and women in uniform were in harm’s way in two wars. Millions of Americans would lose their homes in the next several years to foreclosures, jobs would be lost and residents in New Orleans were still living in FEMA trailers more than one year after Hurricane Katrina.

The policies and proposals Mr. Bush was about to read in front of the joint session of Congress would impact it all.

Nowadays, I may still watch the State of the Union with a beer in hand and often with friends, but I give the address the respect and weight it deserves. The president could be a Democrat or Republican, I could disagree with every idea that comes off the teleprompter, but I still pay attention.

The State of the Union can tell us a lot about a president, the mood of the Congress and the direction our country is going. It’s a bellwether that can inform the debate in our republic.

Cheers.

Contact Mike Mendenhall at
mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com