Can the president of the United States be barred from delivering the annual State of the Union address? Well, technically speaking, the Constitution mandates that the president address the nation “from time to time”. The annual address has evolved as a tradition.
Also, technically speaking the address is delivered in the House chamber. In order for the president to take the floor of the chamber, he must be invited to do so by the invitation of the Speaker of the House. Herein lies the rub for some in the GOP who are looking to rebuke the president for arbitrarily reinterpreting existing laws in order to execute them with new found authority Congress has not granted him.
The respected conservative periodical “The National Review” is urging Speaker Boehner to not invite the president to deliver his State of the Union address. The action would be a symbolic gesture of Congressional rebuke to the president for his actions.
Some on the political Left believe that the action would backfire on the GOP. They cite an attempt in 1999 by then Speaker Newt Gingrich during the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The move caused public opinion to sway in President Clinton’s favor with his approvability rating reaching 69%.
However, that was also the height of the dot-com boom, millions of jobs were being created, and household income was increasing. Today, the labor force participation rate is the lowest since President Carter. Voters gave the GOP a mandate to shift the nation away from Obama’s agenda boutique policies only to see the president react with recalcitrance. At any rate, Speaker Boehner has not indicated he is even considering the unusual course of action.