Congratulations to Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, U.S. Reps, Heath Shuler, D-N.C., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz. for gathering 60 members of Congress to sit with members of the opposite party during President Obama's State of the Union speech tonight. I've always hated to see our elected Senators and Representatives divided by party. An article from the Houston Chronicle states this have never happened in the nearly 100 year history of the State of the Union address. It's about time.
'Date night' pairs lawmakers in nod to call for civility
Gesture breaks tradition that can be traced to 1913
By JOE HOLLEY
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Jan. 25, 2011, 10:47PM
GOP Sen. John McCain, right, talking before the address with Democratic Sen. John Kerry, suggested he was looking forward to less "jumping up and down" in his seat.
There was U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, in her coveted State of the Union perch along the aisle....This time, though, instead of sitting in a bloc with her fellow Democrats, Lee sat beside a real live Republican, U.S. Rep. Pete Olson of Sugar Land.
The two Houston lawmakers were enthusiastic participants in the State of the Union "date night," a bipartisan gesture prompted by the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., earlier this month. The pre-speech curiosity was almost Oscar-night giddy — or maybe prom-night giddy - as lawmakers over the past several days paired off.
More than 60 members signed up to sit beside one of their colleagues from a different party, including U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, the liberal Democrat from New York, who paired up with U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, a conservative Republican from Oklahoma. Schumer noted that sitting together was symbolic, but added, "Maybe it just sets a tone and everything gets a little bit more civil."
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, sat with U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, while U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, sat next to U.S. Sen. Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat who had asked her for a "date" on ABC's This Week on Sunday.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi turned down an invitation from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., explaining via Twitter that she already had accepted an invitation from Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat, sat with fellow Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk, a Republican, who was attending his first State of the Union address.
"I'm bringing the popcorn; he's bringing a Coke with two straws," Durbin joked last week.
'Want to change the tone'
The move to break with tradition came earlier this month from a moderate Democratic policy group called Third Way and was quickly endorsed by Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo.
"I think we all believe that the State of the Union's become more like a high school pep rally, and we want to change the tone and show the public that we can work together," Udall said at a news conference a few hours before the president's speech. Joining him were U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and U.S. Reps. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz. All three were co-signers of a "Dear Colleague" letter to every member of Congress, asking them to end the partisan-seating tradition.
"The choreographed standing and clapping of one side of the room - while the other side sits - is unbecoming of a serious institution," Udall had written. "And the message that it sends is that even on a night when the president is addressing the entire nation, we in Congress cannot sit as one, but must be divided as two."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., announced that he'd be sitting with Mark Udall's cousin, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.
"It might be nice to cut back a little bit on all the jumping up and down," McCain told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday. McCain was a close friend of the late U.S. Rep. Morris Udall, a liberal Democrat from Arizona who sought his party's presidential nomination in 1976.
'Pep rally' dates to 1983
The partisan seating tradition dates back to 1913, when President Woodrow Wilson personally delivered a State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress for the first time since Thomas Jefferson.
Lawmakers observed the partisan seating tradition of the House - and continued to do so for nearly a century.
The "political pep rally," as Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court put it last year - members on one side leaping to their feet in a syncopated ovation while the other side sits glumly - dates back to 1983, when Democrats mockingly applauded President Ronald Reagan during a State of the Union speech.
"Date night" 2011 turned out to be a rather sober public lecture from the president. They heard Obama call for "our generation's Sputnik moment" - investment in biomedical research, information technology, clean-energy technology. They also heard him call for education reform, investment in infrastructure and tax reform.
Empty seat for Giffords
There were 79 applause interruptions, and lawmakers still rose for standing ovations, but less often and less raucously than in years past. An empty seat among the Arizona delegation, a tribute to Giffords, also contributed to a more somber tone.
Whether bipartisan civility lasts past midnight Tuesday is an open question, as the president acknowledged.
Just recognizing "common hopes and a common creed," Obama said, "won't usher in a new era of cooperation. ... What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together tonight, but whether we can work together tomorrow."
Sen. Mitch McConnell dismisses it as strictly symbolic with no meaning to the public, but I beg to differ. I've always hated to see the traditional splitting by party.
Others are not so enthusiastic. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said on FOX that he would sit in his usual Senate seat.
"If people want to mix it up, we don't have seating assignments," McConnell said. "The American people are more interested in actual accomplishments ... than seating arrangements for the State of the Union."
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