Here is an interesting analysis graphic of the State Of the Union Addresses of all US Presidents.  Unsurprisingly, the grade level (GL) of the SOTU Addresses has trended downward over time.  The highest average GL was James Madison with an average GL of his addresses of 21.6 and his 1815 address had a GL of 25.3.  The lowest average GL was attained by Bush the Elder with 8.6 and a low mark of 7.6 for his 1992 address.  The scale used to calculate GL was the Fleisch-Kincaid Readability Index common to MS Word products.I don't know what this analysis tells us except that maybe presidential expectations of what the American people can understand has gotten lower over time.  Or maybe people today are just not as articulate as people were 200 years ago.  I know I certainly know few people who can turn a phrase as well as the founder's did.