A big question at these speeches is who I will invite as my guests. Marilyn and the girls would be there, of course, and I knew Charlie was thankful he was out at sea, because otherwise he would be with them also. I had to give my staff some names and suggestions very early on, weeks before the speech in fact, so they could be properly vetted. For instance, I was planning on having some of the family members of the victims of 9-11 in the gallery, but if we brought somebody in, the press would immediately crawl up their butts and take residence. What if somebody was a criminal or sex offender, somebody who blamed me for 9-11, or a secret Democrat planning to unveil an anti-Buckman banner? The guests are screened by Ari Fleischer and his staff. I had several dozen guests, and at various appropriate places, I would mention them and the cameras would show their faces.
I don't know how many drafts we went through preparing for the speech. I promised the fellows that when it was done they would each get a week at Hougomont, my treat. Regardless, they were both kind of bleary eyed by the 29th, and when Frank decided to joke with them and told them we needed another revision, they started throwing things at him. I took pity on them and put a stop to any changes that morning. "Guys, unless somebody attacks us in the next twelve hours, this is just going to have to do. Now, go home, get some sleep, and watch me tonight on television fucking up my lines."
Matt groaned and Mike shrieked, and they sent everything off to the printers and to Ari for the teleprompter in the Capitol. A courtesy copy was also sent to the Democrats in Congress, so they could prepare their official response. Why the hell they were allowed to rebut the State of the Union Address was a complete mystery to me. It's not a Constitutional requirement, and I have always thought it was rude as hell.
Regardless, Tuesday the 29th rolled around, and Marilyn brought the twins down as soon as they got home from school. The speech would start at 9:00, but that was simply the time when I was scheduled to start down the aisle to the podium. I wouldn't begin pontificating for another five or ten minutes. We actually got to the Capitol a little after 8:00, and relaxed in John Boehner's Whip's office. I had a copy of the speech and was reviewing it, although I already knew it by heart, and it was also going to be on the teleprompter. Knowing my luck, the damn thing would break, I'd forget to say something, and the Democrats would rise up in revolt. Or worse.
The twins were totally bored at the waiting. They had been in the office before, when it had been mine, so it wasn't like they could get a grand tour. We ignored them. Marilyn looked at me and said, "You are too tense. You need to relax. It will be just fine."
"It's only the most important speech of my political life, that's all!", I replied theatrically.
"You have said that about every speech you have ever given. They can't all be that important."
I snorted and laughed. Lowering my voice, I said, "I know a way I can relax."
My wife blushed and her eyes lit up. "And ruin my makeup?! Forget it!"
"Hmmmppph! Maybe I need to hire an intern after all."
Marilyn smiled and said, "I can always ask Carter to step in."
That got me to coughing as Marilyn laughed at me. When I had my breathing under control, I answered, "I like Carter, but I don't like him that much!"
"Good."
Thankfully it was Frank and not Carter who stepped in tapping his watch and saying, "It's time, Mister President." If it had been Carter we would have probably died laughing. We got to our feet, and Marilyn gave me a quick kiss for luck, and I hugged my daughters. Then Frank escorted them out of the room.
There is a lot of ceremony involved in this that is never actually seen by the public. The Congress has to be seated first, and then in some sort of formal order, the Deputy Sergeant At Arms requests permission for the Veep, the Senate, the Justices, the Cabinet, and the other VIPs, like the Chiefs of Staff, to all be allowed entry. They all file in and take their seats. Finally, when everybody is in place, they get around to the President. He is the only one who actually does this on television. The Sergeant At Arms gets to call my name out and I get escorted down the aisle by one Congressman and one Senator, named by the Speaker and the Vice President (in his role as head of the Senate). Today I had John Boehner and Don Nickles, which was fine by me. I knew and liked both men and had worked with them extensively.
We were standing around the corner from the main doorway and I glanced at Don and John. "How the hell did I get myself into this mess?", I asked them.
John simply laughed. Don answered, "Clean living?"
"We know that's a lie!", commented John.
I didn't have a chance to respond, when suddenly the door opened, and I heard "Mister Speaker, the President of the United States!" I squared my shoulders and marched forward, flanked by my friends.
The roar of the applause was deafening. Almost immediately Congressmen and Senators from both sides of the aisle began to reach out to shake my hand. The cynical part of me knew that they were simply looking to get their pictures taken with me, and that they would happily turn on me like wolves on a wounded fawn if they thought it would help them. The not so cynical part of me enjoyed it. I knew that it wouldn't last. This was my good time. I was still popular from punishing terrorists, and the recession hadn't really settled in yet. This time next year my approval ratings would be a lot lower!
It took me almost ten minutes to snake my way down the aisle and get to the podium. My hands were sore, both of them, from reaching out and clasping others. Denny and John reached down from where they sat behind me and both shook my hand as well. Then I turned back to the Congress, and the room quieted down.
"Mister Speaker, Mister Vice President, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens. There are few greater responsibilities than that which I am about to undertake. It is the responsibility to fulfill the Constitutional requirement to report on the state of the union, and to recommend to your consideration measures I judge necessary and expedient. I report to you now that the state of our union is STRONG!"
I said this forcefully and proudly, and the room erupted in applause, with a standing ovation. I waited about thirty seconds and held my hands up for calm, and when the room calmed, I continued.
"More importantly, I report to you now that the state of our union will REMAIN strong!"
This time the standing ovation went on for over two minutes, and resisted my efforts to calm things down. I simply stood there and smiled and accepted it. Eventually it stopped.
"President Bush was to have had this privilege. He fell, doing his duty, along with 3,213 others on September 11th. I last spoke to you here in this forum four and a half months ago, when I took up the mantel of responsibility he carried so well. In that time we as a people have come together to help the survivors, heal the wounds, defend our nation, and claim a justifiable vengeance on those who attacked us.
When I spoke to the nation on October 8th, we were beginning our response to the attacks of 9-11. At that time we began a coordinated effort of our ground, naval, and air forces to destroy the terrorist elements that had waged war on us, and the Afghan government which had sponsored them. As I told you that night, and as we have reported since, that effort was extremely successful. The warlords in Kabul and the terrorists they supported have faced the severest retribution and punishment, and a more moderate government is now beginning to form and coalesce in that stricken nation."