6 February 2019 — 1109 mst

Trump and Abrams spoke at a tenth grade level

I didn’t watch the speeches live, but I did download and read the transcripts (as prepared for delivery), and watched a delayed broadcast of Abrams’ speech. Trump’s address contained 5,190 words, 297 sentences, and was written at a 9.9 Flesch-Kincaid grade level. Abrams’ response employed 1,530 words, 86 sentences, and was written at a 9.7 Flesch-Kincaid grade level. That’s an appropriate reading ease level for a speech directed primarily at voting age adults.

Trump called for comity, unity, and bipartisanship. By that he means Democrats should agree to support what he wants. Most major news outlets have checked the facts in his speech. His level of honesty and accuracy did not differ appreciably from previous speeches.

Like U.S. Sen. James Webb, who delivered the Democrats’ response in 2007, Abrams wrote her own speech, which was smart. My principle complaint with her response, which she delivered well — she’s an accomplished speaker — is that it gave short shrift to environmental issues, devoting just five words to the subject: “…take action on climate change.” What action? And not a word about the transition to clean energy. That’s short sighted on her part. Savannah, GA, is a coastal city that will become a wetland by the century’s end if the sea continues to rise.

Was either speech necessary? No. The constitution requires that the President submit an annual state of the union message to Congress. But the constitution does not require that the President convert a joint session of Congress into a cheap political rally, which is what recent Presidents have done. The response is equally political and unnecessary.