The Constitution only requires the President to give Congress information on the State of the Union "from time to time."
And absolutely nothing requires him to actually present the report himself. In fact, though Washington and Adams delivered their report in an appearance before Congress, Jefferson decided against it and instead submitted his in written form. It was his belief that a speech, in addition to being inconvenient, takes longer than simply reading and robs legislators of the opportunity to think about it before responding. (A novel thought: Think before you speak.) Jefferson also strongly objected to the impression that the practice of appearing before Congress was too akin to the British monarch's practice of addressing each new Parliament with a list of policy mandates, rather than "recommendations" between equals.
And so it was for well over 100 years, until Wilson revived the speech format in 1913. Since then, all State of the Union reports have been delivered before Congress, with the exception of Carter, who gave his final report in written form.
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