It’s one of the most thankless and risky duties in Washington politics — following the president’s State of the Union with the opposition party’s response.
While the president delivers his address to a joint session of Congress in the hallowed House chamber, enjoying standing ovations and the media’s full attention, the rebuttal is typically held in nondescript office, studio or hallway, with a bookshelf, window or even door unceremoniously serving as the backdrop.
Newly minted Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, is the latest to answer her party’s call to deliver the State of the Union response. A rising GOP star from a battleground state, she is a military veteran with a no-nonsense, folksy yet tough-as-nails demeanor — which may be just what the GOP needs given some of its recent troubles with State of the Union responses.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., awkwardly grabbed a water bottle off camera — then took a quick swig — during his delivery of the GOP response two years ago. The 2016 presidential hopeful was able to turn the faux pas into an advantage, raising $100,000 for his political action committee by selling “Rubio” water bottles.
In 2009, when Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was a skyrocketing young GOP star, his stilted, flat delivery while giving the State of the Union response dampened — at least temporarily — his political stock.
Even last year’s incident-free response by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, the highest-ranking Republican woman, was somewhat tainted by accusations of mistreatment by a former staff member. The issue has died down, and McMorris Rodgers never was found guilty of wrongdoing.
Democrats also have had their troubles with the State of the Union rebuttal. Former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine’s 2006 response is remembered more for his darting eyebrows than his criticisms of President George W. Bush’s war on terror.
William Galston, a political expert with the Brookings Institution, says that while giving the State of the Union response is tricky assignment, the parties haven’t done a particularly good job preparing for the event.
“It doesn’t have to be as tough as it’s been in recent years,” he said. “If I were leaders of the opposition party, I would work a little bit harder on the staging and the choreography for the response than they have, and I don’t understand why it’s so catch-as-catch can.
“Why would Marco Rubio’s water be off camera? In this day and age, you just can’t be as casual about something that’s nationally televised.”
He added that the parties should resist the temptation of turing the response into a de facto partisan campaign speech and focus instead on truly challenging what the president said.
“I would certainly counsel anyone giving the response to take the high road and avoid the sort of partisan political jabs that might be appropriate in a stump speech but not in response to the State of the Union,” Galston said.
“It will be very interesting to see whether Sen. Ernst, who is not exactly a shrinking violet, can modulate her rhetoric and her demeanor,” he said.
In recent years, State of the Union responses haven’t been limited to just the official GOP version. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who is contemplating a run for president, is giving a rebuttal on YouTube, like he did last year.
Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Fla., will deliver a Tea Party response to the president’s address, which can be viewed on the Tea Party Express’ website.
Tea Party favorite Mike Lee, R-Utah, also will give a response.
And Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, who is of Cuban ancestry, will deliver a translated version of Ernst’s speech.
Ramesh Ponnuru, a political expert with the American Enterprise Institute, said he is surprised the the tradition of having a single State of the Union response lasted as long as it did, given the fractious nature of party politics.
“The congressional [ruling] party is always cacophonous compared with the presidential party when they’re not in the same hands,” he said. “Even before you had all these non-official Republican responses you had all these press releases and statements to the press and different opposition figures would be emphasizing different things, saying different things.”
