State of the Union

President Trump traveled to Ohio Thursday to give what was supposed to be a speech touting his administration's infrastructure plan, as the White House attempts this week to refocus on infrastructure for the umpteenth time since Trump's inauguration. But that effort ran aground Thursday for the…

President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address was a success. The theater was unbeatable. The president’s special guests were particularly moving at this year’s address: a double amputee who somehow escaped from North Korea by sheer strength of will; a police officer who adopted a drug…

Eleven months ago—before Donald Trump had to accept any of the disappointments of lawmaking—the new president stood before a joint session of Congress and called for, among other things, the passage of a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan.

The State of the Union address is perfect for President Donald Trump. His showmanship and sense of dramatic timing; the endless applause and moving stories, lovingly told; the pleasure he takes in enunciating truths no one could disagree with—it’s almost as if the whole cockamamie tradition were…

President Trump delivered a relatively straightforward State of the Union address with few surprises and almost none of the glibness he often exhibits in public appearances. Trump began with an optimistic tone to tout the recently passed tax cuts, offered platitudes on trade and infrastructure, and…

I was flying cross-country Tuesday night and didn’t see Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address. The instant reviews were predictably mixed. Trump supporters, even reluctant ones, seemed to like it. His critics hated it. 

During his first state of the union address Tuesday night, President Donald Trump repeatedly called for bipartisanship, painted hopeful images, and told inspiring stories about guests in the crowd. But a year’s worth of partisan battles cut through the president’s optimistic rhetoric.

President Trump’s second annual address to Congress passed Tuesday night without him mentioning a sole word about entitlement spending, continuing a deviation from the economically conservative Congress he inherited.

Every State of the Union address experiences lengthy interruptions for applause, which is watched closely. Are only Republicans cheering? What about the Democrats? Did Chuck Schumer just roll his eyes?

Of the few minutes of his first State of the Union address that Donald Trump spent on foreign policy, he devoted the most time to North Korea.

Anyone who hoped that Donald Trump might diverge from his predecessors' penchant for a laundry list of promises must be disappointed.

Donald Trump began his first State of the Union Speech calling out to the honored guests sitting with first lady Melania Trump and then touting the tax cuts passed by the GOP in late December:

It's about the infrastructure, stupid! Tonight's State of the Union address is rumored to be heavy on the infrastructure spending rhetoric. At Reason, Christian Britschgi observes "The point of infrastructure spending is to build infrastructure, not create jobs." Amen.

Roll over Ronald Reagan. When President Trump delivers his first State of the Union address, he will do so as the most conservative president of all time. At least, that’s what the Heritage Foundation seems to think.

Tuesday night is Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address, the annual event where the president speaks to a joint session of Congress with lofty rhetoric about where the country is and where he wants it to go. The Constitution doesn’t require the chief executive to deliver the State of the…

Steve Bannon, the nationalist agitator who served as Donald Trump’s chief political strategist for most of 2017, invited observers last year to compare Trump’s inaugural address with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos a few days earlier.…

Years ago, during the long-forgotten administration of George H.W. Bush, I looked in on a friend of mine who had been “tasked”— the military jargon was just then creeping into civilian life – with writing the president’s State of the Union address.

Early last Wednesday, Iran released the ten American sailors it had detained to coincide with President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night. The administration understood clearly that the Iranians were both trying to ruin Obama's victory lap and sending a message—on the eve of…

The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes, breaking down President Obama's final State of the Union Address.

The Republican National Committee is responding to Barack Obama's final State of the Union Address by releasing this video, focusing on national security failures:

Here's the full text of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley's Republican Response to President Obama's final State of the Union Address:

The first lady of the United States will be sitting with a Syrian refugee at this week's State of the Union Address. The refugee's name is Refaai Hamo.

Barack Obama is preparing for his final State of the Union Address, which he'll deliver January 12. And the president is not looking to slow down as the end of his presidency nears.

Jesse Byrnes of The Hill writes that:

Sorry I’m a little late. The National Association of Police Chiefs was being given a tour of the White House just when I was showing Joe Biden my new backswing—HANDS UP. They must have fired 600 rounds. The Blue Room—we’re renaming it the “Swiss Cheese Room.” Good thing they all made lousy shots.

If you skipped President Obama’s State of the Union address on TV last week, you missed something. It was long (61 minutes) and uninspiring. Yet as the Obama presidency enters its seventh year, the speech was revealing. Here are a few things we learned about Obama’s thinking.

Speaker of the House John Boehner told CBS's 60 Minutes that he's "interested in working with" President Barack Obama:

Republicans have been tripping over one another to slag President Obama’s tax proposal, made in his State of the Union address, to repeal the step-up in basis on inherited wealth and use the revenue it would generate to increase the child tax credit and pay for free community college. While it’s…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with executive editor Fred Barnes on President Obama's State of the Union address.

There were lots of what they call “takeaways” in the speech. That’s the way that crack speechwriters craft them and the way crack correspondents report them. Most of those lines just roll over the rest of us. But there was one, last night, that jumped out at you.  As Government Executive reports,…

MNSBC's Andrea Mitchell knocked President Obama's description of the world in the State of the Union address as "not close reality":

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with Bill Kristol on President Obama's State of the Union address:

President Obama knocked "constant fundraising" in his State of the Union address delivered tonight from Washington:

President Obama taunted Republicans with an off the cuff remark:

Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg appeared to fall asleep during President Obama's lenghty State of the Union address:

President Obama talked about spending a lot of money tonight -- on preschool care, community college, new infrastructure, and a variety of tax preferences for middle- and lower-income earners. All financed by new taxes, primarily on the wealthy.

Just before his election in 2008, candidate Barack Obama declared that "we are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America." From the closing lines of Tuesday's State of the Union address, it appears that a little more than six years later, now President Obama thinks…

The office of House speaker John Boehner has posted the full text of the Republican response to the State of the Union (breaking its own self-imposed embargo), to be delivered by Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa:

President Obama will talk about ISIS in tonight's State of the Union Address. He'll talk about Iran. And he'll talk about North Korea, Iraq, and Afghanistan. (He won't mention "al Qaeda.")

President Obama won't claim victory of the Islamic State. But in tonight's State of the Union he will say that he (or "American leadership") is "stopping" its "advance."

Capitalizing once again on Vice President Joe Biden's infamous hot-mic gaffe from 2010, a White House video promoting President Obama's Tuesday night State of the Union speech closes with "IT'S A BFD." 

White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer said over the weekend that President Obama's entire State of the Union plan would "absolutely not" be passed by Congress. Now the Associated Press is saying that speech's goal is to influence the 2016 presidential election debate.

Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama has repeatedly said he isn't set on just implementing his own agenda -- if other people have ideas, he wants to hear them. In fact, the day after the 2014 elections when Republicans expanded their majority in the House and took control of the Senate, the…

The White House knows President Obama's plan, which he'll lay out this week in the State of the Union Address, is unrealistic. Dan Pfeiffer, a top White House adviser, said so earlier today on CBS:

The Associated Press White House correspondent, Julie Pace, described President Obama's trip to India later this week as an entrance into the "lame duck" part of his presidency:

The White House branched out into yet another social media venue Tuesday. Upworthy, the popular you-won't-believe-what-happened-next site, was given an exclusive White House video of President Obama discussing the executive action he plans to take to improve Internet speeds in U.S. cities. In true…

 Previewing an item from his upcoming State of the Union address, President Obama announced a "Free Community College" plan Thursday evening for "anyone who's willing to work for it":

President Obama has just announced the creation of a new program, which he calls myRA, as part of an overarching agenda he’s implementing, which could well be called myConstitution. 

President Obama couldn’t resist confiding to a recent interviewer, “I am comfortable with complexity.” In fact, he is comfortable with a kind of pseudo-complexity that lends itself to pseudo-thoughtful formulations.

Where you stand on President Obama’s State of the Union address last week depends, to some degree, on where you sit. Liberals thought the president was feisty, determined, basking in the glow of historic achievements, throwing down the gauntlet at obstructive Republicans. Conservatives thought the…

The GOP dismisses President Obama's State of the Union Address with this online video, showing the president repeated lines from previous addresses:

House majority leader Eric Cantor applauded President Obama's push for so-called immigration reform in last night's State of the Union Address:

President Barack Obama delivered a State of the Union Address on Tuesday that was important less for what he said than for what it says about him.

The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast, with editor William Kristol on President Obama's 2014 State of the Union address.

Almost immediately after tonight's State of the Union Address, Vice President Joe Biden sent an email to supporters of the Democratic party asking for money.

The text of the Republican response to the State of the Union Address, delivered by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state:

President Obama's State of the Union Address, as prepared for delivery:

Fred Barnes, writing in the Wall Street Journal:

Former press secretary Robert Gibbs said today on TV that President Obama and his White House "long ago" gave up on "trying" to change Washington:

American Action Network, a conservative non-profit organization, has released a new ad knocking President Obama as an "empty suit" in anticipation of Obama's state of the union address Tuesday night. Watch the video below:

President Obama will partner with Google for the "first-ever Presidential Hangout Road Trip," Google announced today.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with Fred Barnes, hosted by Michael Graham:

In response to the outrage over Marco Rubio's decision to drink water during his response to the State of the Union Address, his PAC, Reclaim America, has begun selling water bottles.

In an email to supporters, President Barack Obama is asking for cash donations to the Democratic party. 

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with Bill Kristol, hosted by Michael Graham:

There wasn’t much in the way of substance to distinguish Marco Rubio’s official Republican response to the State of the Union Address from the Tea Party response by Rubio’s Senate colleague, Rand Paul. Both were delivered by potential 2016 presidential nominees who entered the Senate on a wave of…

Did I miss something? Or was the State of the Union Address delivered by President Obama last night unusually pedestrian, packed to the gills with clichés, promises, gimmicks, and endless talk of partnerships, goals, challenges, and commissions for which Washington is famous?

The Republican response to the State of the Union Address, which will be delivered by Marco Rubio, as prepared for delivery:

The AP put out this photo on the wire:

In tonight's State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama calls for minimum wage to be raised to $9 per hour.

In his State of the Union Address this evening, President Barack Obama will encourage Congress to adapt a cap and trade plan to deal with climate change. Energy, climate, and taxes are a sizable portion of Obama's speech.

At tonight's State of the Union Address, President Obama will announce that he has signed a cyber security executive order.

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address, as prepared for delivery:

President Barack Obama will use tonight's State of the Union Address to announce a group that will explore ways to improve "the Election Day experience." The Huffington Post, which broke the news, calls the group "a bipartisan presidential voting commission." 

The following are excerpts of the Republican response to the State of the Union Address, which will be delivered by Marco Rubio:

The White House has released limited excerpts of President Obama's State of the Union Address: 

President Barack Obama had lunch today with members of the press. But we likely won't find out what was discussed: The entire luncheon was off the record.

Tonight, the President will deliver the usual boring laundry list of promises about jobs, prosperity, affordable education, wide roads, and a blissful future.  And in the morning, millions of Americans will take a harder hit when they buy gasoline, which is, for most of them, not a discretionary…

In a short web ad released today, ahead of Barack Obama's State of the Union Address, the Republican party mocks the president for always wanting to raise taxes:

From the earliest days of Marco Rubio’s plucky campaign for the U.S. Senate, his diehard supporters spoke of the day that their man would have an opportunity to challenge Barack Obama – his policies, his vision, his rhetoric. They were certain that Rubio was so gifted an orator and possessed such a…

The headline on Ron Fournier's National Journal story warns us to be alert for a "pivot" by the president in his State of the Union address.  It seems that regarding the president's Inaugural Address “the perception remains that Obama lost focus on the economy -- the top issue in the minds of most…

Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican senator elected in 2010, will give the Republican response to Barack Obama's state of the union address next week. From a joint statement from House speaker John Boehner and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell:

President Barack Obama will deliver this year's State of the Union Address on February 12, which is the same day as Abraham Lincoln's birthday.

On January 23, 1980, Jimmy Carter gave what turned out to be his final State of the Union address. Ronald Reagan’s victory over Carter that November spared us any more of them. Will Barack Obama’s appearance before Congress on January 24, 2012, be his swan song? 

To the long list of constituencies at whom President Obama is righteously cheesed off​—​millionaires, billionaires, international terrorists, those sorts of people​—​we may now add the bursars of America’s colleges and universities. He devoted a passage of his State of the Union address last week…

These days one can sense a palpable fear among Republicans that the 2012 presidential election is slipping through their fingers. Their constellation of concerns includes the (perceived) weaknesses of the two frontrunners, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich; the increasing ferocity of their clash; the…

These days one can sense a palpable fear among Republicans that the 2012 presidential election is slipping through their fingers. Their constellation of concerns includes the (perceived) weaknesses of the two frontrunners, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich; the increasing ferocity of their clash; the…

New York senator Chuck Schumer commented on Mitch Daniels's Republican response to the State of the Union Address at a press conference today on Capitol Hill. "The Republican speaker last night, Mitch Daniels, talked about Americans must talk about the state of the union as grave," Schumer said.…

The boss noted President Obama's praise for the military in last night's State of the Union address—praise, that is, designed to advance his own liberal agenda. President Obama is “using the prestige of the military to justify the nanny state,” as the boss wrote last night. Still, Obama seemed…

Michael Barone: "Lots of military; one sentence on Obamacare"

There were some nice patriotic touches, a passel of small proposals, and old ideas like soaking the rich in President Obama’s State of the Union Address. But mostly the speech consisted of an effort to make a big deal out of not much.

The Republican National Committee has compiled this video comparing lines President Obama used tonight in his State of the Union Address with lines he used in previous addresses before Congress:

Obama's State of the Union might be most notable for what was not said. There were 44 words dedicated to health care reform. There was no mention of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka stimulus bill.

Here's the full text of President Obama's State of the Union Address, as prepared for delivery: 

This morning, the Republican leadership on the Hill announced that Indiana governor Mitch Daniels would deliver the GOP response Tuesday night to President Obama’s State of the Union Address. An hour ago, a dark lady mysteriously appeared at our offices and dropped off an envelope before vanishing…

Over at CNAS, Andrew Exum has a somewhat different take on President Obama's ROTC shout-out in the State of the Union speech. He writes:

President Obama spoke last night about the need to “win the race to educate our kids” and asked if we as Americans are “willing to do what’s necessary to give every child a chance to succeed.” He highlighted one school in particular—Bruce Randolph School in Denver. “Three years ago, it was rated…

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican chairman on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, pushed back on some of the (few) foreign policy points President Obama made in last night's State of the Union address:

At one point, it seemed as though Barack Obama was set to become the great Democratic leader for the 21st century. Here is a man who was able to ride an impossibly good angle into the White House -- in just four years, he went from being an obscure state senator to president of the United States.…

In his State of the Union address, President Obama seemed to have two goals: the first was to sound centrist; the second was to try to convince everyone to accept the radical leftward policy lurch of the last two years and simply move on from there. As the tension between these two goals suggests,…

We learned, I think, two important things from last night's speeches. Both had to do with the power struggles within the two parties, and who now has the upper hand in those battles.

President Obama is a minimalist. Confronted by a public that has rejected his policies and voted for a Republican landslide in last November’s election, Obama has offered the bare minimum, or less, to accommodate the new public mood.

Less than three months after voters across the country expressed their utter disdain for Washington and an overreaching government, Barack Obama’s second State of the Union address, and the mindless symbolism surrounding it, validated their judgment and demonstrated that many in the political…

Attention Columbia, Yale, Stanford, and all the other elite schools dragging their feet on ROTC: President Obama will reaffirm his support for ROTC in tonight's State of the Union. The relevant excerpt [emphasis added]:

Having vastly increased non-defense, non-entitlement spending in the process of racking up unprecedented deficits, President Obama is now expected to call in his State of the Union address for freezing such spending at these new, much higher, levels. NPR reports that Obama will call for a 5-year…

The Wall Street Journal highlights the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) to give tonight's Republican response to the State of the Union address. As the Journal notes, Ryan has gone toe-to-toe with President Obama before, faring quite well in the process. He has provided exceptional critiques…

“Investment,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell noted, is a code word when uttered by President Obama and Democrats. It means, he said on Fox News Sunday, “we want to spend.” Indeed, that’s what Obama and Democrats most want to do.

Jonah Goldberg writes in National Review Online:

William Galston, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institute, writer for the New Republic, and founding board member of the recently launched No Labels project, predicts, “the key to Democratic Party success over the next two years will be its strategic response to Obama.”

Last week, when the big news was the health care repeal bill in the House, Democrats accused Republicans of only wanting to do something symbolic. Since the repeal bill would probably pass in the House but would fail in the Senate or fail to gain the president's signature, Democrats argued,…