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Posted: 9:20 p.m. Monday, Jan. 24, 2011
By Jamie Dupree
President Obama gets another chance to boost his own ratings and re-set the legislative agenda, as he gives his State of the Union Address to a divided Congress.
As for what exactly is going to be in this speech, the White House was not publicly tipping its hand, other than to say the economy and jobs would be a prime focus.
"I think many of you will find this to be a semi-unsatisfying briefing," said outgoing White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
"I am not, at noon on Monday, going to talk or give a lot about what the President is going to say at 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday," as Gibbs went on to repeatedly prove that, leaving reporters a bit exasperated at times.
Gibbs did hint that Mr. Obama will speak about deficit reduction, but gave no specifics.
"I think you'll hear the President talk about a whole host of economic things including getting our fiscal house in order," said Gibbs.
Up on Capitol Hill, Republicans were grinding their teeth about the State of the Union exercise, knowing full well that the power of the Bully Pulpit might run them over a bit on Tuesday night, especially with talk about bipartisanship and cooperation.
"I think I'll hear more of let's reduce spending in one spot so that we can increase spending in another spot," said Rep. James Lankford (R-OK), one of many freshman Republicans who aren't sure they're going to see much change after this speech is over.
"We hope that he's talking about a true reduction in the national debt instead of just reducing the rate of increase," said Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA), the head of the GOP freshman class.
While Scott said he's ready to go into the speech with an open mind, it seems unlikely that Mr. Obama's rhetoric will meet their test, but we'll see what the White House speechwriters come up with.
"I expect Barack Obama will call on Congress to find common ground so we can create jobs," said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD).
One interesting insight from the White House briefing yesterday was that this speech supposedly won't be a laundry list of items that the President wants to work on.
Does that mean it will focus on just a few items, or broader themes? We'll see tonight.
One thing seems likely, many here expect this speech will give another bump to the President in the polls.
Whether those points hang around in the long term is another issue.
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