The Steak of the Union

No, that is not a typo. Instead, it is awesome.

On Tuesday, I was one of the lucky few to win a free steak dinner at Morton's Steakhouse (at one of their DC locations), hosted by WMAL's Chris Plante, as we all watched President Obama's State of the Union speech.

Now, I'm not going to do an analysis of the speech itself. It's been done at least a thousand times over, even if you take out the rehashes that some people pass off as original analysis. I'm simply going to give my impression of the event. It's mostly summed up by the phrase "campaign speech."

President Obama isn't exactly at fault for this, of course. With the advent of television, the State of the Union speech has become less an address to Congress as a way for the President to address the people of the United States, and to do so in a way steeped in tradition and spectacle that catches attention.

It's important to stop and think about that, really. Everything that the President and those who came before him, going back through several different administrations, have said in these speeches have been mainly aimed at the citizens of the United States and occasionally people around the world, and not as part of an address to Congress itself. So why not just have a separate speech? Why has the Constitutionally-mandated State of the Union report (wherein the President is to "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") become a spectacle more akin to the campaign trail?

Quite simply, the American people like the history of it. The pomp and ceremony signals to us not a great grand party -- or else we would have a very different style to the State of the Union -- but rather a history and tradition that marks the event as something important and necessary. We sit up and take notice at this in a way that even the President coming into our home town won't provide.

You see, when the President comes to our home town he's a man. A very important man, but just a man, representing mainly himself. A very few times during his term, however, such as at his Inauguration or at the State of the Union speech, he represents something more, something far greater. He is the President of the United States; a man, but reflecting in that moment every President that has come before him, every President that will come after, and every ideal that makes America strong. Few other nations can match the combined simplicity and majesty of this moment, leading many in the world to just shake their heads at those oddball Americans and their strange fascination with such things.

As I said, I don't want to go through President Obama's speech, because it's not important to talk about what he said. Well, of course, he certainly didn't say much of any note, but I'll leave it up to you to go find out what he said. It was somewhat underwhelming for me, and not just because the media built it up beforehand like I've never experienced before. I felt it was a letdown to the tradition of the State of the Union itself. Traditions are important; they give us stability and a framework on which to hang the new and unusual and deal with them in the most expedient manner. The State of the Union is one such tradition here in the United States, and I think President Obama could have done better. It was far from his worst speech, but that moment demands some of his best.

The Steak of the Union, however, was excellent. Morton's Steakhouse served us the tastiest salad I've ever had, a delicious crabcake, a perfectly tender steak, smooth and creamy mashed potatoes, steamed greens, and a choice of either double-chocolate mousse or a New York cheesecake. I had the latter, while my friend Jon had the former. I think neither of us were disappointed with our choice.

Chris Plant (himself a rather likable individual, as I can now attest) gave a quick analysis of the speech itself, and helped point out unfamiliar faces for those of us who don't watch TV or haven't otherwise memorized Congressional members' and secretaries' faces -- and, of course, cracked jokes.

I rather hope I can get an invite to this event in the future, should WMAL continue to hold it, but the odds of that are pretty slim. Of course, I thought that about me winning the contest this year as well. So who knows?