The State of the Union

++As we said last year,all we expect from Obama's last term is immigration reform. I don't expect any of his jobs initiatives to be approved by Congress and the next President will have to deal with the issue of poverty.

++I happen to agree with E.J. Dionne when he urges Obama to establish the language of debate for the next decade in our politics like Reagan did. 

++Yes, we will see proposals on the minimum wage,unemployment insurance and other goodies that are now playing their way into our political debate. 

++President Obama's aides are saying that their ambitions are small and that the President will outline what he will do through executive action.

++He will also set the tone for this year's elections for the Democrats.

++We should remind everyone that the long-term unemployed have been screwed since no one on the Hill seems capable of addressing the issue.

++The Farm Bill, originally passed by the Senate two years ago, may--or maybe not--be taken up by the House this week. The lack of action by the House Republicans has eroded the staunch support of the Farmers Bureau for the GOP and threaten their rural vote.


++Jon Karl interviewed Jay Carney on ABC yesterday and raised the issue that only 37% of Americans believe Obama will do the right thing. Jon asked whether Obama will get his Mojo back. Someone should ask Karl is he knows that Mojo is.

++The CBS poll has Obama at 46-47% approval rating. And again I happened on a poll about Obama's like ability, which is at 59%. As long as he hangs there, he is in decent shape.

++The GOP will have three responses to Obama's State of the Union address. Mike Lee for the Teabaggers,Rand Paul for Rand Paul, and a House woman. 

++The Media meme is that Obama had a terrible year and how can he have a better one. I explained last year why I felt it was not a terrible year for Obama. But Billy Kristol said it was a good year for the Republicans because it was a bad year for Obama. I guess he forgot the government shutdown.

++Speaking of which, Mitch McConnell and Tan Man Boehner have said there will not be a clean debt ceiling hike. They said this on the tenth anniversary when both men gave George W. a clean debt ceiling hike.