On March 1st, President Biden will travel down Pennsylvania Avenue and address a joint session of Congress, sort of, in his first State of the Union address. Though technically not a SOTU, Biden also delivered a low-rated and utterly forgettable speech last spring before a sparsely-attended gathering of mask-wearing members in the House chamber. Speaker Pelosi and company decided that COVID-related social distancing required severely limiting the capacity, even though all members of Congress had been given access to vaccines by that point. Democrats were accused of engaging in 'COVID theater,' but they were in charge and got their way. The resulting optics were strange, and the most memorable part of the evening was Sen. Tim Scott's strong GOP rebuttal. With the Omicron wave rapidly receding and the country's appetite for a return to normalcy stronger than ever, Democratic are reportedly seeking to once again severely limit attendance at the upcoming event:
Each party may be allowed to invite just 25 House members to attend President Biden's State of the Union Address in person, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told colleagues on Tuesday. The possible restrictions are yet another reminder the nation is still grappling with the coronavirus pandemic. The president is slated to deliver his first State of the Union address on March 1; attendance for his address to a Joint Session of Congress last April also was capped...McCarthy told members of the Republican leadership that Pelosi told him she was instituting a 25-member attendance cap, two sources in the room told Axios. McCarthy and other Republican leaders were frustrated by the declaration. McCarthy noted Democrats fly on planes with more people than they planned to allow on the floor, a person in the room told Axios...A Pelosi spokesman said no final decisions have been made.
If I were the Republicans, I wouldn't object too loudly to Pelosi's own-goal here -- unless complaining loudly in our polarized and stupid times might help cement her obstinate partisan resolve to dig in on a self-destructive decision. Amazingly, Pelosi is reportedly considering imposing an even harsher attendance cap than last year, per Axios: "Biden’s [2021] Joint Address was attended by 55 House Democrats and 25 House Republicans, along with 35 Senate Democrats and 25 Senate Republicans, according to a Capitol official." Writing at National Review, Dan McLaughlin wonders why the GOP would go along with this charade:
The State of the Union address is a civic tradition and, at times, fascinating political theater, although its TV ratings have been in decline for some years. For the opposition party, the address is typically an unpleasant ritual...This year, Democrats are restricting attendance so severely that Republicans should consider whether it is even worth attending — or, if they do, just sending Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy as token representatives...If the Democrats are going to insist on preposterous Covid theater that keeps most of the Republican caucus out of the chamber anyway, why should anyone dignify the charade by attending?
In response to this column on Twitter, conservative policy analyst Phil Kerpen offered up a proposal:
They can go down to Richmond to see Youngkin's response in the packed House of Delegates chamber.
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) February 2, 2022
The more I think about this idea, the more I like it. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin would be an excellent choice to give the Republican response. He was elected in a blue state just a few months ago, as the electorate shifted rightward by 12 net points from 2020 to 2021. He won by running on the themes that the broader party hopes to parlay into further success this year, across the map -- and he's proven to be a cheerful and effective messenger. He's picked smart fights and is advancing a sensible conservative agenda in the opening weeks of his term. The symbolism of handing the microphone to a newly-elected Republican governor, just across the river from DC, fits the moment on multiple levels. McCarthy et al should consider inviting Youngkin's freshly-inaugurated Lt. Governor (who happens to be an African American woman) and Attorney General (who happens to be Hispanic) to flank the governor, subtly needling the Democrats on their diversity obsession. Youngkin could succeed by tweaking his stump speech, signaling solidarity with parents, hitting the president on his biggest vulnerabilities (inflation, Afghanistan debacle, border crisis, etc), and using a large platform to punch back at wildly overzealous and overreaching bureaucrats like this:
This is audio from the Assistant Principal of a Loudoun County elementary school informing parents that children who come back to school maskless will be charged with “trespassing”
— Chrissy Clark (@chrissyclark_) February 2, 2022
In Virginia, trespassing is a Class I felony that holds a 12-month jail sentence or $2,500 fine pic.twitter.com/lawXgLIfI5
Students at @LCPSOfficial Stone Bridge High School are being suspended for 10 days for not wearing a mask.
— Chrissy Clark (@chrissyclark_) February 2, 2022
Reminder: a male student was NOT suspended for raping a teen girl in the Stone Bridge HS bathroom. pic.twitter.com/BSXCnrpQFZ
Then there's the setting. Democrats may once again willfully surrender the most powerful component of the modern State of the Union address, for a second consecutive year: Pageantry and prestige. The theater of it all. Biden is an underwhelming orator whose rhetoric will ring even weaker in a mostly-empty hall. The country is yearning for a return to normal life, but Democratic leaders are apparently on the brink of sending a strong signal back to voters: No. They are contemplating allowing even fewer people into the building than they did a year ago. Might Pelosi require the few attendees to wear made-in-China fitted medical masks, too? Republicans, by contrast, could host a heavily-vaccinated, masks-optional showcase that oozes upbeat normalcy. This would be a strong move on the merits, and is also a political winner at this point. Somewhat cynically, if the whole spectacle infuriates the usual "safetyist" suspects in the media, and inspires tribal Democrats to cling to increasingly-unpopular and seemingly-endless restrictions even longer, November's red backlash may only grow bigger.
Viewers would watch (or see clips of) a shrinking, unpopular president reading a moribund speech in front of a mostly-empty house, juxtaposed with a hall packed with Republicans cheering on their side (GOP leaders should invite all of their members barred by Pelosi back in DC down to Richmond). Democrats would be more than welcome race over to MSNBC and leftist Twitter and denounce the event as irresponsible. Few outside their echo chamber will care, let alone agree, at this stage. Republicans could also easily fire back at such critiques by noting how many prominent Democrats routinely fly around the country, dine at restaurants, and even defy their own regulations while attending crowded indoor sporting events, only to lie about it when confronted (this whopper is legitimately funny). Enjoy that spin, Democrats. The party in power is losing the country and the plot on these issues. The GOP has an opportunity to press this emerging advantage in an appealing, inviting way -- via an appealing and inviting governor. They should seize it.
Parting thought: Yes, this is the same playbook Republicans used back in 2010 after then-Gov. Bob McDonnell won in a state Barack Obama had carried the year prior. Yes it's been done before, and yes, it starred a politician whose term eventually ended in scandal. To which I say: So what? That was a dozen years ago. Few people remember it. I happen to recall the visuals of that rebuttal being much more striking than most of the direct-to-camera opposition SOTU responses that originate from some office somewhere. And this year, along with a fairly gifted messenger, these optics would be even more impactful, given the context and national circumstances:
By the way, as a superstitious vibe check, does everyone recall what happened in November 2010, months after Virginia's new Republican governor responded to a Democratic president with flagging approval ratings? I sure do.
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