This article can be used with Land and Freedom Economics Lesson 15, on Taxation, and US History Lesson 19, on The Deficit and the New Deal.

Article II, Section 3 of the United States Constitution states that the President "shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."

This custom expresses itself nowadays in an annual speech, delivered to a joint session of Congress and televised on every channel, in which the President lists the accomplishments of the previous year and sets out items on his legislative agenda for the coming one.

Of course, in presidential election years, there is an almost irresistable tendency to use the opportunity the State of the Union presents to make a televised campaign speech.

Here is the official summary of the State of the Union address, as published by the White House, and Here is the full text.

Of course, there will be a wide range of opinion regarding the substance and style of the President's remarks. Most general press coverage tends to focus on simply re-stating the main points the President made in the speech. This CNN report is an example.

Other commentators took the President to task on many of his statements, questioning him in terms of both accuracy and policy direction. Here is one such analysis.

Here are two cartoons, one on a State of the Union address by President Bill Clinton in 1996, and one on the controversial 2000 election of George W. Bush.

Questions for Discussion

1. Name three issues that you believe are very important in United States politics today.

2. Read through the State of the Union address, and quote what, if anything, President Bush said about the issues you chose.

3. Why was President Clinton looking at an elephant?

4. The Bush cartoon was published in a left-wing English newspaper, The Guardian. Why is Bush pictured as having a very long nose?

5. Why did the Bush cartoon state "I think we agree, the past is over"?

6. If Bush were not running for re-election, how do you think his speech might have been different?

7. President Bush stated that the United States is "where the war [on terror] began". What did he mean by that? Do you agree with this statement?