...nothing in the Constitution actually requires an annual personal speech by the president to a joint session of Congress, and that our third president, Thomas Jefferson, deliberately abandoned the precedent of annual speeches set by Washington and Adams because he disliked its monarchical pretensions. More than a century later, Woodrow Wilson revived the older practice, which was more or less followed by his successors until it became a highly stylized infomercial for presidents who had no need of such a spectacle to communicate either with Congress or with the public.

And now SOTU addresses have become encrusted with stupid traditions:

• The members of Congress jockeying for aisle positions so they can be seen shaking hands with or embracing POTUS
• The procession of military leaders and Supreme Court justices into the House chamber, signifying the great leader’s universal power
• The puppet-like reaction of members to nearly every phrase of the speech, as they stand, sit, cheer, and don’t cheer, as dictated by partisan signals
• The Real People in the galleries to illustrate this or that presidential talking point, whose value is calibrated according to their proximity to the First Lady’s seat
• The opposing party’s “response” to the address, typically canned before the address itself, and thus usually a model of bland generality
• The snap polls and focus groups conducted by media outlets seeking to reinforce the event’s awesome political significance (which usually fades within hours).