(3) Base Camp

In the era of TV news, the president uses the State of the Union Address to deliver his message to a wide audience—as in, not just the folks in Congress. The speeches tend to be written so that anyone with a TV can understand them easily (yep, even the same people who watched American Gladiators).

You know how newspapers are written for a fourth grade reading level? That's pretty much the rule for big political speeches, too. Suffice it to say that you won't find very many unfamiliar words or complicated sentences in this speech.

On the other hand, understanding the State of the Union requires some contextual knowledge about what issues were important on the political scene that year, so it's not going to be like reading a listicle.

Not to mention, the State of the Union is one of the longer speeches the president gives during the year…no wonder Ruth Bader Ginsberg can't keep her eyes open.