Many Democrats on Twitter praised Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy III on Tuesday for a State of the Union response that was inclusive and impassioned. Republicans said he was literally drooling.

The response to the State of the Union is an unenviable job — the speaker needs to follow the president, spelling out an agenda from the ultimate bully pulpit. Many on the left said Kennedy, grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, did his ancestors proud by appealing to struggling Americans from all walks of life.