A tired tradition? Defining the union in a word

Category: Word Press

Is "strong" losing its strength?

Presidents of both parties have long felt compelled to sum up the state of the union with a descriptive word or two in their State of the Union addresses. Mostly the same word.

For many years now, "strong" has been the go-to adjective.

Here's President Barack Obama a year ago: "Together, we have cleared away the rubble of crisis, and we can say with renewed confidence that the State of the Union is stronger."

In the earlier years, he went with "getting stronger" or just plain "strong."

George W. Bush liked the one-two punch of "confident and strong."

His president-dad, George H.W. Bush, paired up "sound and strong" in 1990.

Bill Clinton in 2000 promoted the union to "the strongest it has ever been."

It wasn't always this way.

Dwight Eisenhower skipped the quick sum-up. With the nation in recession and millions out of work in 1975, Gerald Ford dared suggest all was not well.

Continued here:
A tired tradition? Defining the union in a word

Related Posts
January 27th, 2014
No comments yet

Comments are closed.