In preparation for tonight's speech, I thought it would be interesting to link to a few memorable State of the Union speeches:
"They know that victory for us means victory for religion. And they could not tolerate that. The world is too small to provide adequate 'living room' for both Hitler and God. In proof of that, the Nazis have now announced their plan for enforcing their new German, pagan religion all over the world—a plan by which the Holy Bible and the Cross of Mercy would be displaced by Mein Kampf and the swastika and the naked sword."
"We worked for two centuries to climb this peak of prosperity. But we are only at the beginning of the road to the Great Society. Ahead now is a summit where freedom from the wants of the body can help fulfill the needs of the spirit."
- In 1982, President Ronald Reagan introduced a special guest in the gallery: Lenny Skutnik. Now days, every SOTU has "special guests," so it's hard to remember the impact that Reagan had when he introduced a hero who rescued passengers of an airplane crash in the Potomac River. As Reagan recalled of Skutnik:
"... when he saw a woman lose her grip on the helicopter line, (he) dived into the water and dragged her to safety."
- President Bush's 2002 State of the Union was the first post-9-11 State of the Union address: Seeking to be a "uniter, not a divider," Bush said:
"I am a proud member of my party. Yet as we act to win the war, protect our people and create jobs in America, we must act first and foremost not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Americans."
(Here's a full collection of SOTU addresses). Let's hope there are some memorable lines from tonight's speech.
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