State of the Union 2012
Live coverage of President Obama's State of the Union address
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For a little historical context -- Article II, section 3 of the Constitution requires the president "from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."
The first and second presidents, George Washington and John Adams, spoke to Congress in person, but Thomas Jefferson delivered his "information" and recommendations in writing. This became the convention, until Woodrow Wilson upended things by giving his remarks to Congress. Every president since Wilson has delivered his "State of the Union" address in person, although Franklin Roosevelt was the first to call it that. -
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Obama made over 500 promises, according to Politifact.com, a fact-checking operation run by the Tampa Bay Times. But its tally makes clear the challenges. It shows that 162 promises were kept and 56 broken. The rest were either stalled, compromised or still in the works, according to the study. See this factbox from our White House corro on some of the main promises kept and not kept. www.reuters.com
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Tomorrow the President is off to Iowa and Arizona to spread his #SOTU message. He'll spend the night in Las Vegas. #nbcsotuby ShawnaNBCNews via twitter 1/25/2012 1:01:11 AM -
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HuffPost's Sam Stein reports that tonight Obama will announce the formation of a "mortgage crisis unit" to "investigate misconduct and illegalities that contributed to both the financial collapse and the mortgage crisis." According to Stein, the new entity will be chaired by New York AG Eric Schneiderman.
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A policeman stands guard as the sun sets on the U.S. Capitol building hours before U.S. President Barack Obama is set to deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington January 24, 2012. [REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque]
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For a little more history: George Washington gave the original SOTU address to focus on the 'union of states.' Since then president's eventually started using it to outline the goals of their administration. Some factoids from usgovinfo.about.com
"In 1823, James Monroe explained what became known as the Monroe Doctrine, calling on powerful European nations to end their practice of western colonization.
Abraham Lincoln told the nation he wanted to end slavery in 1862.
In 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke of the "four freedoms."
Just four months after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush shared his plans for a war on terror in 2002." -
Last year, Obama said: "I strongly believe that we should take on, once and for all, the issue of illegal immigration." I can't imagine the people who care most about this issue believe that it has been taken on at all in the last year, and certainly not "once and for all."
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Obama will call for financial incentives to bring U.S. manufacturing back home. The U.S. Business and Industry Council favors the move. A study it released last week found that high-end, capital intensive industries, the jewels of American manufacturing, are losing market share within the United States to imported products. It said that imports had taken 38 percent of the $1.63 trillion U.S. market for advanced manufactured products by 2010, up from 24.5 percent when the government started collected the data in 1997. Read more here on the Macroscope blog
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The POTUS and FLOTUS are in the motorcade and it's on it's way to the Capitol. #sotu #nbcsotuby ShawnaNBCNews via twitter 1/25/2012 1:38:28 AM
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FLOTUS wearing a fetching short-sleeved royal blue dress w/ a metallic sheen. #fashionreport #sotu #nbcsotu.by ShawnaNBCNews via twitter 1/25/2012 1:39:09 AM
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@stella here's a list (with photos) of which Republicans and Democrats are mixing up the seating arrangement nolabels.org
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@Jim re immigration -- Sarahi Uribe at the Guardian makes a similar point, noting that through the "Secure Communities" deportation program (which she urges him to suspend) Obama has "delivered more deportations than any president in history":
For Latinos, the "Secure Communities" deportation program has come to symbolize everything that is wrong with the president's approach to immigration. A mass deportation program known to ensnare traffic violators and others for minor misdemeanors makes us more secure? Really? -
Last year, Michele Bachmann delivered a Tea Party response to the SOTU, on top of the Republican response. You can watch it here: www.youtube.com Somehow I doubt we'll be seeing a televised Occupy response this year.
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Mitt Romney delivered a State of the Union "prebuttal" this morning from Tampa, where he predicted that Obama's address would be marked by "divisive rhetoric from a desperate campaigner-in-chief."
"It’s shameful for a president to use the State of the Union to divide our nation," he said. -
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Rep Giffords gets standing ovation in House chamber while her husband watches from gallery #sotuby Tabassum Zakaria via twitter 1/25/2012 1:58:04 AM -
Debbie Bosanek, secretary to America's second richest man, is the guest of Mrs. Obama tonight. She'll play the role of prop in Obama's call for rich people like Mitt Romney to pay as much of their income in tax as the middle class.
I'm guessing that Warren Buffett's secretary does not have to clip coupons. -
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And for comparison sakes, here's a look at past State of the Union addresses length in words
www.presidency.ucsb.edu -
The Obama campaign is having 194 SOTU watch parties across Florida. Although there is no Democratic primary on Jan. 31, the state remains very, very important for the general election. Some Republican strategists say they can see no path to the White House for the GOP without winning Florida.
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