The last decade has been dominated by this narrative that the rebuttal to the State of the Union is a career-killer, but before that, it was kinda just someone from the other party giving a dull little speech. People went on to lead Congress (you’ve probably heard of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid). New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman gave a response to Bill Clinton in 1995 and continued to be an important voice for moderate Republicans. Bob Dole gave the 1996 rebuttal and was the Republican nominee that year. The “rebuttal curse” is sort of a new thing.
