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Raymond J. de Souza: Trump's State of the Union address merely for partisan showmanship

Low expectations reign, no matter the party in power

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President Donald Trump will deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Forty years ago, Ronald Reagan didn’t — and delivered instead one of the most memorable and moving speeches of his long career.

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In 1986, State of the Union day — in late January that year — began normally enough. The drafting of the speech was complete and a luncheon was held at the White House to brief journalists — to “spin” them ahead of time, though the word was not then in wide use. A quarter of an hour before lunch though, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after lift-off. When Reagan dropped by the press luncheon, all questions were about the shuttle and the space program, not the State of the Union.

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The address was postponed. Instead, just five hours later, Reagan spoke to the nation from the Oval Office. In little more than four minutes, he expressed grief over the loss of the seven astronauts — including a civilian schoolteacher — comforted their families and the nation, whilst recommitting to the spirit of adventure and discovery that animated the lost astronauts and the space program as........

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