Health care reform to be part of urgent national priorities in Obama's address to Congress
24 02 09 - 15:16
Obama takes big agenda to TV
By David Jackson, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — President Obama is billing his speech Tuesday night as "an address to Congress," but it will sound much like a typical State of the Union.
He's following a television-driven tradition in which new presidents use their first speech in the ornate House chamber to rally support for their ideas.
"New presidents like to present their agendas to the public and set priorities for policymakers," said Betty Koed, a historian with the U.S. Senate. "This is also an opportunity for them to look presidential."
Presidents generally wait a year to deliver the traditional State of the Union address, which takes months to prepare and contains proposals from various government departments. That speech typically reflects on the past year in office — something Obama really can't do after only a month in the White House.
Instead, Obama plans to discuss what he called "our urgent national priorities," including plans to create jobs, stem home foreclosures, revive financial institutions and improve health care.
"We have an extraordinary economic challenge, and people are looking to him to speak to that," said Obama senior adviser David Axelrod.
Obama joins predecessors Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as presidents who spoke before Congress in February. Those presidents also focused their speeches on the economy, with a list of new proposals.
"I guess you can call it an inaugural address with heft, filling in the details," said Stephen Hess, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution who worked in the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations. "He's got a big program he's got to sell."
Obama, the 44th president, will be the 12th chief executive to speak in person to Congress within two months of inauguration — all but two presidents since World War II.
The U.S. Constitution states that presidents "shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union." It doesn't specify what the content should be, how it's delivered or mandate how often a president should report.
George Washington and John Adams delivered their reports in person. Thomas Jefferson opted for written messages — a practice that prevailed for more than a century.
Not until 1913 did another president, Woodrow Wilson, give a speech to Congress to advocate tariff reform, a month after his inauguration. Franklin Roosevelt delivered most of his State of the Union speeches in person to the Congress, institutionalizing the practice. Harry Truman gave the first televised address in 1947.
Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy then moved the timing of their first speeches to Congress to their first months in office, and both dubbed them State of the Union speeches. Lyndon Johnson gave his first formal State of the Union two months after winning the 1964 election — the first televised in prime time.
Beginning with Jimmy Carter in 1977, new White House occupants began giving different titles and themes to their first speeches to Congress. Carter dedicated his to his national energy plan.
Obama's effort "will not be a State of the Union," said Gerhard Peters, co-director of the American Presidency Project with the University of California at Santa Barbara. "That will be the speech we listen to a year from now."