Last night, Americans tuned in to watch President George W. Bush give the State of the Union address on Capitol Hill. The U.S. public was not his only audience; members of the House and Senate sat across from the president, who was framed by Vice President Dick Cheney and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. In his speech, the president outlined the direction in which our country is headed and his aspirations for America.

Opportunities for Bush to provide the United States with his thoughts and a chance for the U.S. public to finally see what goes on in his head, however, always seem to be plagued by an element of mockery and petty scuffles.

The mockery is often welcome, and may in fact be deserved in light of the United States' national and international political struggles. When it comes from members of Congress and masks or overwhelms the speech, however, it becomes distracting and detracts from our ability to focus on the issues in the speech that matter.

During last year's State of the Union address, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) did a crossword puzzle during part of the speech, and whipped out his BlackBerry along with some of his colleagues and proceeded to check e-mail and grumble during the address. Pelosi, a representative from California at the time, actually had to hush them at one point.

As Bush calls for bipartisan cooperation, Democrats and Republicans seated on opposite sides the House chamber applaud fervently at respectively appropriate times and seem to glare at each other.

Meanwhile, the issues that the president discusses take a temporary backseat as members of Congress air out their petty grievances and quibble with each other about party lines.

How much influence does this speech have on U.S. politics, and has Bush succeeded in achieving any of his goals from the 2006 State of the Union address? Economy and terrorism played a big part in his 2006 speech, and still one of the most contentious issues facing Congress and the president are his policies in Iraq. In his 2006 speech, Bush aspired to reduce troop levels in Iraq. He recently pledged upward of 20,000 American troops to be dispatched.

After the party line scuffles are over, members of Congress need to work on holding Bush to the promises he makes in his speech, and we need to let our representatives know that we are waiting for them to do just that.