The most popular words in past State of the Union speeches

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

The seventh year of an American president's tenure can be fraught, as headline-stealing events, familiar policy and shopworn rhetoric fuel anticipation of the next exciting campaign and a new White House occupant. So what the heck do presidents talk about during the last quarter of their tenures? These word clouds from previous seventh-year State of the Union addresses lend some insight:

Though many similar words appear in each SOTU word cloud, there are telling patterns: Use of the words "world" and "America" fluctuated, depending on the nation's priorities and anxieties; war was only begrudgingly mentioned, and only during tough times like Vietnam and Iraq (FDR's glaring exception aside); and "Congress" and "must" figured prominently in many speeches, perhaps to present a convenient foil and sense of urgency for the event.

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If you're tuning into President Obama's SOTU tonight, these clouds will give you a pretty good head start on what he's likely to speak about.

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Mike Barry is the senior editor of audience development and outreach at TheWeek.com. He was previously a contributing editor at The Huffington Post. Prior to that, he was best known for interrupting a college chemistry class.