It looks to the fact that the two political sides in the US no longer share any values.
President Joe Biden during the “State of the Union” speech. Behind are Vice President Kamala Harris and Mike Johnson, Leader of the House of Representatives. Photo: Shawn Thew / AP / NTB
- Jens Elmelund Kjeldsen
Professor of Rhetoric, Department of Information and Media Science, UiB
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Da president Joe On the night of Friday Norwegian time, Biden took the podium in the US Congress to give his speech on the state of the nationthe annual State of the Union, I was afraid the audience would fall asleep.
Yes, I was almost worried that Biden himself would fall asleep during his own speech. It didn’t happen. Biden was surprisingly energetic in a fierce, defiant, fiery speech that had every Democrat in the room shouting in unison, “Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!’
Biden’s and the audience’s reactions produced a new type of “State of the Union,” a type of speech that began with President Donald Trump: The political and polarized State of the Nation address.
UiB professor Jens Kjeldsen is currently in Phoenix in the USA, where he followed Joe Biden’s “State of the Union” speech from. Photo: Tove K. Breistein
The speech of the nation condition has naturally always had party political elements. It has always been the sitting president’s party members who have applauded the most. But this speech and its reception in Congress reached a whole new level of polarization.
If Biden’s speech had been delivered before four years with Trump as president, it would have been condemned as unnecessarily partisan, excessive and aggressive and dismissed as not at all a state of the nation speech, but instead a campaign speech. And that was it too – an election campaign speech.
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The Republicans did to make the speech polarizing, because a speech is essentially a collaboration between speaker and audience. In all the speeches throughout history, both sides of the House have found moments of agreement where Republicans and Democrats stand and applaud together for shared American values.
While Democrats stood up and applauded almost once a minute during Biden’s speech, Republicans stood up only twice: When the president entered, and when he mentioned civil rights activist John Lewis. For the rest of the speech, the Republicans demonstratively sat on their hands, when they were not looking distractedly at their mobile phones.
It looks to the fact that the two political sides in the US no longer share any values. In contrast to previous speeches about the state of the nation, it has now almost become a rule for opponents in the hall to interrupt, shout “lies” and the like, or scream “boo”.
When Biden spoke about immigration, Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene loudly shouted “Say her name” and urged Biden to say the name of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed by an illegal immigrant.
It was a plainly veiled accusation that she believed Biden’s politics were responsible for the abuse. But Biden knew the accusation was coming and grabbed a small metal plaque that had Riley’s name engraved on it, held it up for all to see, said the name, apologized to Riley’s family and said he had the policy that could solve the problem.
Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene with a button displaying the name of Laken Riley, who was killed by an illegal immigrant. Photo: Mark Schiefelbein / AP / NTB
Such aggressive dialogue is a completely new style during the speech on the state of the nation. Most of the State of the Nation speech is the same every year, and yet it evolves over time. In some of the first years, the speech was not a speech at all, but a written briefing.
Up until the first part of the 20th century, people had to read about the speech in the newspaper, before in 1923 it was broadcast on the radio, in 1947 it was broadcast for the first time on television, and in 1997 it was transmitted online. With these changes, the State of the Nation Address has moved from addressing Congress to addressing citizens.
More than ever before, this speech is a speech to the citizens and not to a united Congress – now it is not only to the people, it is also against the other party.
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Published: March 9, 2024 10:42 pm
2024-03-09 21:42:30
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