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Is it because He did not want to say the usual line that the state of our union (aka after 8 years of Obama) is strong?
Technically, it probably could be. “State of the Union” is just a name. The Constitution says, “He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” It doesn’t need to be the huge deal they make it out to be. The president can send an email out to Congress, and it would probably meet the requirement. It actually was done via letters for a long time – from Thomas Jefferson in 1801 until 1913, when Wilson gave a speech in front of Congress. Carter was the last president to give the update in writing, in 1981.
I don’t think there’s much point in a state of the union address when you’ve only been in office for all of 40 days. Not much take credit for, except things proposed rather than legislated.
President Obama’s first address to a joint session of Congress in February 2009 was also not called a “State of the Union.” Neither was President Bush’s in February 2001. Perhaps it’s minhag 🙂
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