State Of The Union: What Obama Must Do

State Of The Union: What Obama Must Do.WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama steps to the podium in the Capitol building on Tuesday night for his third State of the Union address, with the front center of the economy and the public's mind and popularity at its lowest.

With a national audience and a surprisingly volatile year for the Republican presidential primary, experts expect Obama to use the annual speech to boost his campaign to win another four years in office.

"The State of the Union address is a combination of political discourse and political discourse, because the two are bound together by our system," said Duke University political scientist David Rohde.

Obama saw some of the populist themes that will touch on Tuesday night - income inequality, including the role of government in the playing field for the middle class.

But the effectiveness of the annual address depends on several things, according to experts, including delivery, tone and resonance.

Here are five things that veteran political observers say Obama should do when he starts talking to 21 hours:


Stay above the fray

Obama should offer a contrast to the din of campaign ads in the last Republican presidential primary, policy experts said.

"All he has to do is to look presidential," said Hofstra University Presidential scholar Meena Bose, despite the attacks of the GOP would be challengers.

"What Obama as president wants to do is rise above charges," said Bose. "The president wants to be on the offensive, not defensive."


The stress of the economic gains

The economy may have helped Obama three years ago, but it has now become a sore point - a target for enemies Republicans, a source of pessimism for Americans, according to polls, and a question that the president might want to avoid .

But Rohde said: "It has taken over the dead."

The spokesman for the White House Jay Carney says the economy will be the focus of speech.

Lynn Vavreck, a political scientist at UCLA, said Obama should focus on the growth of 3 percent of GDP in the fourth quarter of 2011 and the fall of one-half percent unemployment rate, from 9 percent to 8 5 percent in recent months.

"The winning message is not on the level of unemployment," said Vavreck. "This is the trend line."

Obama needs to follow this line, Rohde said: "It's getting better, it's getting better faster than before recently, and it is expected he will continue to s' improve it.”


Engage Congress

Obama has made no secret of the fact that he intended to run against Congress this year.

It is planned to include a sharper edge in the face legislators, particularly the GOP House. But it must also show that wants to work with Congress to create jobs.

"The president must call upon them to bear the burden of leadership and policy development," Bose said.


Show that it is at work

Polls show Americans are tired of Washington because he cannot do something. Obama must show that it is, nevertheless, to work hard.

"The overriding message of this address will be the skill and get things done," said Bose.

"You really see the advantages of incumbency," she said, as he talks about steps he will take, without the Congress.


Drive Home themes

Obama said he will present an economic model, offering new initiatives on manufacturing jobs, energy and training. But it will also revisit the measures Congress has stalled.

"President Obama really needs to show he is in control of the situation, he has a clear plan and it is up to Congress to react," said Bose.

After the speech, Obama head out of an official five-state tour for three days to push his agenda.

Vavreck said the speech to clarify his belief that the economy is recovering ". Now that things are better, do not change horses midstream”

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Republican Debate: Mitt Romney-Newt Gingrich Fight Flares, Then Fizzles

Republican Debate: Mitt Romney-Newt Gingrich Fight Flares, Then Fizzles.Mitt Romney was a face to face assault against his main rival in the growing debate on Monday night in Florida, calling Newt Gingrich as "influence peddling" he had to "resign in disgrace" of the House of Representatives.

In the first minutes of debate, Romney quickly went on the offensive, accusing the man who defeated him in the primary South Carolina the weekend of being unscrupulous, unreliable and simply ineligible.

"I think [the election] on leadership. And the president gave him the opportunity to be the leader of our party in 1994. And at the end of four years, had to resign in disgrace," said Romney. "In the 15 years after leaving the speakership, he had been working as a peddler of influence in Washington. And during those 15 years I have helped turn the Olympics, he helped start a very successful turnaround in the state of Massachusetts. "

Romney maintained throughout the first half of debate, criticism Gingrich for being reprimanded by his GOP colleagues in the House, to make money as a defender of Freddie Mac and teaming up with Nancy Pelosi to talk about global warming.

It rose to a kitchen-sink attack a man who rose from the defeats in Iowa and New Hampshire to become a mortal threat to Romney's candidacy. Romney's aggressive behavior recently made it clear that he sees as a threat Gingrich in Florida and nationwide.

Remains to be seen how the sudden change of attitude Romney debate play with voters who had previously been to try to maintain a position above the fray, which seemed to wait for general elections.

Romney struggled to maintain the intensity of their criticism for the duration of the night, as the debate shifted to the Florida-specific issues such as subsidies for sugar and half a decade-old Terri Schiavo.

The sometimes volatile Gingrich maintained his composure during an attack by Romney, responding with a combination of ridicule and scorn visible content.

"I'm not going to spend the night trying to go after Governor Romney misinformation," Gingrich said in the beginning of the debate. "This is the worst kind of politics trivial."

But against shock followed by Romney, Gingrich began to strike back, complains that Romney was practicing dirty politics and go after the record for the Bay Stater as party leader.

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Newt Gingrich’s Lambasting Of John King Follows A Popular Line Among Republicans

Newt Gingrich’s Lambasting Of John King Follows A Popular Line Among Republicans.The exchange of fire with Newt Gingrich John King at night showed GOP debate Thursday is an old piece of political wisdom: It is never a bad idea to run against the press, especially if you happen to be a Republican.

Gingrich drew applause Thursday night wild and comments approval of many conservatives, after the launch of the explosion to the king, and by proxy the news media after the CNN host asked Gingrich about the allegations that his ex-wife asked him to accept the case, it was to have during their marriage.
"I think the destructive cycle, the negative nature of most media news makes it more difficult to govern this country, more difficult to attract good people to run for public office," said Gingrich to a standing ovation during the forum in Charleston, SC "And I am appalled that you begin a presidential debate on an issue like this." Later, he added, to more applause, "I'm tired of the media elite to protect Barack Obama, attacking the Republicans.”

The King was unavailable for comment, but he defended their cause after the debate in an interview with CNN journalist Anderson Cooper. "I was covering politics for 25 years," the king said Cooper. "I realized that if I asked the question, it would not be happy with it, and that he would turn on me.”

Politicians - Republicans often, though not exclusively - have also criticized the press in trade television for decades, and excoriation of the king Gingrich is likely to be among the best in recent memory.

"The list includes, among others, petulant comments of Richard Nixon that the press did to him" to bully "after losing his bid for California governor in 1962, and sentencing famous Vice President Spiro Agnew media as" moguls flattered negativity "in a speech in 1970.

Former CBS presenter Dan Rather might deserve its own category as a political punching bag press. On the contrary, as the White House correspondent, when asked his reaction to President Nixon when he was asked whether he should resign or be removed during the Watergate crisis. Nixon responded, "Well, I'm glad we do not take the vote of this piece, let me say."

George HW Bush had his own stock with rather stormy during the presidential campaign of 1988. When Rather repeatedly tried to corner the then vice-president about his role in the Iran-Contra, Bush cut him off and responded with a reminder about an embarrassing episode in his career Rather, when the host stormed off the set after his program was truncated by a tennis match. "I do not think it's fair to judge my whole career by a rehash on Iran," Bush said in the interview. "How would you like it if I judged your career by those seven minutes when you walked off the set in New York?"

Bush-like exchanges rather, that stimulated the Bush presidential hopeful after disappointing result in the Iowa caucuses this year, Gingrich vs. King may be more an interesting video on YouTube.

As many analysts have noted in the minutes and hours since he was a potential game-changer for Gingrich's candidacy, giving his campaign a shot of adrenaline at a crucial time. Among other things, Fox News host Greta Van Susteran commented moments after the debate Gingrich's response was "peeled the skin of" King.

Gingrich response may have played in the long history of distrust of conservative media bias and its alleged left.

"The Republican voters are cheering Newt media insult the answers in part because they do not appreciate the inordinate power of the media in the political process," said Tim Graham, director of media analysis for the Center for Research Media, a watchdog group of conservative media. "They are not the moderators. They aspire to be more powerful than the voters. They want their "conventional wisdom" to harden and their "scoops" to move the polls. They want to intimidate the candidates leave the race before most voters the chance to have their say. They are a bit smoky room candidates pressure, the more they quit. "

According to Mr. Graham, Republican voters returned the "odious and morally smoothing" your many questions, such as those posed by Fox News commentator Juan Williams, who challenged Gingrich on Monday during the debate on what the candidate has done about African Americans and the poor.

"Nobody is asking [journalists] to release their tax returns," says Graham. "No one asks them about their marital behavior. Above all, the Republican voters returned the majority of journalists are Democrats, and to go much smoother in their questioning of Democrats in the primary debates. "

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