Article II, Section 3 of the United States Constitution reads in part:
[The President] shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient;
At no point does this say it needs to be an actual speech. In fact, several of the earliest Presidents (Thomas Jefferson comes to mind) presented such information to Congress as a letter.
Over the years, State of the Union addresses have devolved into political theatre and propaganda opportunities, much to the determent of America at large.
As a simple not-so-modest proposal to fix this, I suggest that it’s time for Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid to insist that the House and Senate will only accept the State of the Union report in written form. This should help remove the current culture of political grandstanding and posturing (not to mention oratorical skills) and focus on the actual content instead.