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How Short Was The State Of The Union?

by Kayla Solsbak

In his final State of the Union address, President Obama painted his vision for a stronger, kinder America in what he thought would be a shorter speech than his previous seven. He quipped that some of his colleagues were itching to get back to campaigning for his job (looking at you, Ted, Marco, Rand, and Bernie). But really, how short was the State of the Union? It turns out Obama was right: It was his shortest, but only by one minute.

Most of Obama's SOTU addresses clocked in just over an hour. His longest was his first in 2010 (newly elected presidents don't technically give a "State of the Union," though they do often give a speech) coming in at one hour, nine minutes. This year's was 58 minutes, and chock full of jabs at Donald Trump, name drops of badass women, and plenty of chances for Paul Ryan to practice his poker face. However, his shortest is almost the same length as his immediate predecessor's longest. Bush's longest SOTU came in at 59 minutes, and his shortest ended after 47 minutes. Both presidents pale in comparison to Clinton's final SOTU though, which was just under an hour and a half.