An upbeat State of the Union address can be expected from President Obama on Tuesday, according to aides who spoke with The New York Times. The speech offers Obama both a last chance at bullet-pointing his own legacy as well as to counter the negative narratives spun by Republicans on the campaign trail:
As a preview, [Obama] sent his White House chief of staff, Denis McDonough, to most of the Sunday talk shows to counter the Republicans, citing the 292,000 new jobs created in December and the 2.65 million in all of 2015.The Republicans are "seeming to run down America," Mr. McDonough said on NBC. "I don't really get it. What I see is an America that's surging.""We feel very optimistic about the future," he added. "That's a big difference between us and what's going on in this public debate right now and that's what you'll hear about on Tuesday night." [The New York Times]
"This year, he'll be speaking more to the American public," White House communications director Jennifer Psaki said.
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