The State Of The Union: A Defiant Lame-Duck

The State of the Union. President Obama’s telling. His push. And the GOP reply.

The White House headline from the President’s State of the Union speech last night:  The years of crisis have passed.  It’s time to turn the page.  And turn it, said the President, to the interests of the middle class and what looked like a very Democratic Party agenda.  Republicans in the hall last night have just won resounding midterm election victories and both houses of Congress.  No mention of that.  But lots of exhortation from President Obama to move past red state and blue state – and move his way.  The middle class way, he said.  This hour On Point:  the President’s State of the Union.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Candy Crowley, former chief political correspondent and anchor of "State of the Union" at CNN. (@CandyCrowley)

Matt Lira, former deputy executive director of the Republican National Senatorial Committee. Former senior adviser to Rep. Eric Cantor, Rep. Paul Ryan and the Romney for President campaign. Incoming fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics. (@mattlira)
Cynthia Tucker Haynes, former columnist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winner, commentary. (@ctuckerprof)

Medium: President Obama’s State of the Union Address — Remarks As Prepared for Delivery -- "At this moment — with a growing economy, shrinking deficits, bustling industry, and booming energy production — we have risen from recession freer to write our own future than any other nation on Earth. It’s now up to us to choose who we want to be over the next fifteen years, and for decades to come."

POLITICO: Obama’s State of the Union 2015: ‘Shadow of crisis has passed’ — "The president was able to lean on an improving mood, as growing numbers of Americans in polls say they see the economy on an upswing and approve of his job performance. After a year of polling in the low-40s, his approval ratings were approaching 50 percent in surveys conducted ahead of Tuesday’s speech. He also leaned on the rhetoric of his pre-presidential career, saying that he wants young Americans to 'grow up in a country that shows the world what we still know to be true: that we are still more than a collection of red states and blue states; that we are the United States of America.'"

CynthiaTucker.com: Obama’s improving economy — "Obama inherited a mess from George W. Bush — a budget deficit and a financial crisis brought on by the excesses of Wall Street. President Bush started the bail-out, but most of the work was left for the Obama administration. Obama continued the Wall Street bail out, passed a massive stimulus package and rescued the auto industry. Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, fought him every step up the way. That the economy has bounced back anyway is testament to its underlying resiliency."