They Laughed When I Stood Up to Give the State of the Union Address

Delivering your first State of the Union address? Don't be nervous -- just follow this simple outline, based on the first States of the Union of our recent Presidents, and writing your speech will be easy.

I. The People's Greatness

Clinton

"If we simply give ordinary people equal opportunity, quality education and a fair shot at the American dream, they will do extraordinary things."

Bush

"I know this about the American people ... We'll match our ingenuity, our energy, our experience and technology, our spirit and enterprise against anyone."

Reagan

"We ... believe in the integrity, decency and ... good sense of grass-roots Americans."

Carter

"The foundations of this partnership ((include)) a basic faith and trust in the wisdom and strength and judgment of the American people."

II. America's Greatness

Clinton

"We gather tonight in a world of changes so profound and rapid that all nations are tested. Our American heritage has always been to master such change, to use it to expand opportunity at home and our leadership abroad."

Bush

"I began tonight speaking about the changes we've seen this past year. There is a new world of challenges and opportunities before us, and there's a need for leadership that only America can provide."

Reagan

"Don't let anyone tell you that America's best days are behind her, that the American spirit has been vanquished. We've seen it triumph too often ... "

Carter

"We are a great country, a strong country, a vital and a dynamic country ... "

III. Balancing the Budget While Cutting Taxes

Clinton

"This Congress produced a budget that cut the deficit by half a trillion dollars ... This Congress produced tax cuts ... "

Bush

"((Our new budget)) balances the budget by 1993 with no new taxes."

Reagan

"We not only cut the increase in government spending nearly in half, we brought about the largest tax reductions ... since the beginning of this century."

Carter

"We can ... reduce the tax burden ((and)) move rapidly toward a balanced budget."

IV. My Greatness

Clinton

"We replaced drift and deadlock with renewal and reform."

Bush

"The cornerstones of this free society have already been set in place: democracy, competition, opportunity, private investment, stewardship and ... leadership."

Reagan

"History will remember this as an era of American renewal, remember this Administration as an Administration of change ... "

Carter

"We've once again found our moral course, and with a new spirit, we are striving to express our best instincts to the rest of the world."