use that for the great climax of the speech. but to come back to it was unavoidable and i was shortsighted. this is what's going to happen tonight. good morning, i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead.

we begin this morning with an empassioned plea. millions watched last night as president obama delivered his third state of the union speech, something democrats hope will be seen as a compelling appeal for his election to a second term. in it, the president called for national unity and laid out plans for the future. nbc's steve handelsman has more from capitol hill. steve, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, thanks, good morning from capitol hill. even his harshest critics concede, this is what barack obama does best, his democrats up here loved this state of the union address. >> the president of the united states. >> reporter: barack obama came to congress pushing his re-election feed, that republicans call class warfare. >> we can set for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a

growing number of americans barely get by or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules. >> reporter: he demanded a new rule for the wealthy, like him. >> if you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30% in taxes. >> reporter: the president took credit for 3 million new jobs, cutting the deficit 2 trillion and saving gm and chrysler. >> and tonight, the american auto industry is back. >> reporter: he promised fairer trade with china, mortgage refis at a lower rate and better policing of wall street. >> it's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom, no bailouts, no handouts and no copouts. >> reporter: the republican response came from indiana governor mitch daniels. >> president did not cause the economic and fiscal crises that continue in america tonight, but he was elected on a promise to fix them and he cannot claim

that the last three years have made things anything but worse. >> reporter: back in the capital, retiring congresswoman gabby giffordss want an inspiration and the president cited s.e.a.l. team six. >> imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example. >> reporter: build consensus, lower the temperature, which could be tough in this election year. from capitol hill, i'm steve handelsman, nbc news. lynn, back to you. >> steve, thanks so much. after mr. obama spoke, valerie jarrett, senior adviser to the president reacted to his speech as well as the republican response. she talked about the president's message to congress and the american people. jarrett said it presents an opportunity to both parties to find compromise and make some progress. take a listen. >> in terms of making sure we have a system that's fair and k equitable that's sustainable for

long haul, you'll be able to have a good job, send your kids to college, retire with dignity. i think that's what the president's message was tonight. it was one that really believed in america. it believes in our manufacturing. it believes we can be independent of foreign oil and invest in our own energy. he believes we can train the work force to be the best for the 21st century. he believes we could come together and share a sense of values. i thought at the end when he drew the analogy to our navy s.e.a.l.s who were all a part of a team and a selfless act, it was a role model for how we should behave. i thought it was an opportunity for everybody to come together and work together and forge a path forward. as president obama entered the capitol for the speech he was overheard congratulating leon panetta for the success of a daring raid into somalia this

morning to free two hostages, including one american woman. american navy s.e.a.l.s in helicopters flew into a pirate base, exchanged gunfire with kidnappers and rescued american jesse buchanan and a co-worker from denmark. the two aide workers were taken hostage in october as they helped clear means. the rescuers and the hostages are safely out of somalia. today is the first anniversary of the start of the revolution in egypt. protesters are back in tahrir square to express their dissatisfaction with the current military rulers. after the popular uprising toppled the government of hosni mubarak, they are waiting for a civilian democratic government. nbc's francis koe reports. >> reporter: it started with the ouster of the tunisian president and spread to egypt. a year ago, a faw thousand protesters broke through police

barriers to take over tahrir square in cairo. it turned into a popular uprising that shook the arab world. mubarak loyalists fought back but the protesters resisted, and 18 days after the revolution started, president hosni mubarak stepped down. today, the government will end some portions of the hated emergency law, yet despite elections and a new parliament, there is a feeling that the revolution has stalled. the new parliament that was seated on monday is dominated by the muslim brotherhood and islamist parties. the liberals who back the revolution play a minority role. economic problems, continuing protests and sectarian tension have shaken many egyptian citizens. the military council has shown little commitment to change while activist groups want sweeping changes that include social justice as well as regime change. >> problem now is that we just

figure out that the military rule is actually doing the same thing as mubarak. nothing is changing. >> reporter: mubarak and his sons have been put on trial but so far there have been no convictions for the deaths of some 900 protesters during the uprising. january 25th will be celebrated in egypt as a day many gave their lives for democracy. but it will also be a day that egyptians evaluate just how much has been achieved. francis koe, nbc news. and now here is your "first look" at some of the other news going on around america today. surveillance video out of florida shows a 15-year-old boy crashing through the roof of an electronics store during a burglary. he can also be seen carrying a loaded handgun which he later fired inside the store. police say he snuck out the front door and even came back later with a friend to steal laptop computers. but one of the teens mothers saw this video on the news and called police. now both suspects are under arrest. massachusetts senator john

kerry is sporting two black eyes after breaking his nose in an ice hockey game. he found the right place to show off his injury. at monday's white house ceremony where president obama honored the boston bruins for their stanley cup win. speaking of sports, indianapolis is pulling out all the stops to make sure you know they are hosting super bowl xlvi. giant roman numerals are going up in monument circle. you can watch the game on your local nbc station. it is one week from sunday. for your national weather we turn to bill karins. good morning. >> you know who's playing, right? i'm not going to ask you to say it. >> i do know who's playing. giants and the patriots. >> very good. >> you're a jets fan, too? >> don't start. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. >> you put me on the spot, i'm allowed to do it. >> i deserved it. >> i want both teams to lose. at least one will.

good morning, everyone. flooding is the big concern this morning. yesterday we were dealing with the aftermath of those alabama tornadoes, now today we have another tornado watch. incredible. this is january. we keep talking about severe weather and storms. we haven't had any tornadoes over the last couple hours, which is good. the threat is there, eventually over towards houston. that's the tornado watch box in red. we've had flooding rains overnight, san antonio, picked up three inches in one hour and now we're watching the heavy rain around austin, texas. that's probably going to be one of the worst flash flooding spots for the early morning commute. dallas has picked up two inches of rain overnight. texas is a mess, the airplanes i'm sure will have significant delays and the roads will be difficult, too, with all the ponding on them. heavy rain continues from tulsa to little rock. most of the rain is north of little rock. it will return later and eventually louisiana. you'll see some storms later

today. as far as the rainfall totals are going to go, our computers are estimating an additional 3 to 4 inches of rain from the dallas area up towards, heading up to ft. smith, arkansas. shreveport, new orleans, you'll get rain but the heaviest of it will stay in texas. the rest of the east coast, we're okay today. yesterday, what a beautiful warm day up in new england, mid-atlantic. snow showers from minneapolis northwards towards northern wisconsin. otherwise it's a quiet day. we had the heavy rain yesterday in the pacific northwest. today, more showers around seattle. how great has the weather been around denver? today, 54 degrees. not bad, d.c. atlanta looks good today, along with florida. it was mid-50s in boston yesterday. that's a thing of the past. no cold air in sight. >> thanks so much. coming up, stocks sputter,

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. amateur video allegedly shows syrian government troops cracking down on protesters and homes where at least 38 people were reportedly killed tuesday. after syria rejected an arab league plan for president bashar assad to surrender power, arab observers withdrew from the country. frank wutericic will not get any jail time for leading a squad that killed 24 unarmed iraqis. he made a plea deal to a lesser charge in haditha. that was six years ago.

none of the others involved were punished. the officers involved were not hurt. judge wesley brown, the nation's oldest federal judge has died at age 104. he was pointed by president kennedy in 1962. judge brown said he was appointed for life or good behavior, whichever he lost first. and the northern lights have been putting 0 be a spectacular show these last few days. the biggest solar storm in more than six years is boosting the aurora bo aurora borialis. the dow opens at 12,675 after losing 33 points yesterday. the s&p lost a point but the nasdaq was up two. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei climbed 98 pointsing with while in hong kong, the hang seng rose 167. after a less than impressive

tuesday, stocks could be in for a strong start today. apple blew past estimates for revenue and profit thanks to staggering fourth quarter sales of iphones and ipads. earlier tuesday, worries about greece resurfaced as talks to restructure that country's debt stalled once again. that, compounded caution raised by a warning from the international monetary fund about the global impact of europe's recession. a slew of lackluster earnings reports at home didn't help stocks either. verizon missed estimates by a penny as pricier phones cut into its profit margins. meanwhile, weak earnings from utah-based zion's banks made it the biggest drag on the s&p. mcdonald's reported strong sales but its share fell 2% regardless. not surprisingly, yahoo! missed quarterly expectations due to dwindling ad demand.

nvidia was lower. on the flip side, disk drivemaker western digital boosted the s&p after coming in well above earnings estimates. luxury retailer coach rose 6% thanks to strong holiday sales. in deal news, swiss drug giant roche, made a hostile offer for illumina for $5.7 billion. keep an eye on boeing, a norwegian airline announced it is buying 122 boeing 737s. and finally, fans of the pbs drama "doubtin' abbey" can tour and lunch where the popular series is shot for a cool 10,000 bucks. i've never seen it but it has a popular following, apparently. a big baseball designing, a big hockey suspension and the heat beat lebron's old team. plus, trying to save a ball from going out, a high school

player makes this miracle shot. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition?

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[ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. -three. -one. two. three. one. -two. -three. -one. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% back on groceries. and 3% back on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. -it's as easy as...1. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] 1, 2, 3 percent cash back for the things you buy most. the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. the american league signed another hitting star through free agency away from the national league. here's nbc's fred roggin. good morning. we start with news out of detroit. the tigers signed the biggest free agent left on the market. agreed to a nine-year, $214

million deal with prince fielder. the beefy slugger finished third in the mvp voting last week after hitting 120 rbi. he'll fill the void made by victor martinez. his dad, cecil played with the giants for ten years. tim lincicome, he was resigned to a two-year, $40.5 million deal. alex ovechkin announced he won't play in sunday's all-star game because he's a sus penneded player. no ovechkin but plenty of matth matthew perault. he was there to give matthew a shaving cream pie. the caps win it, 5-3. nba lebron james facing the cavs. james with the step-back jumper. fans in cleveland know all about that shot. he had 18.

no surprise here, lebron disappeared in the fourth so chris bosh carried the heat. they win it, 92-85. here's an incredible shot that got one players high fives from the other team. it happened during a high school basketball team. the player in white hustled to the loose ball and tossed it up behind his back and threw the net. you won't see a better three-pointer. one problem, it was for the other team. that's your "first look" at sports. i'm fred roggin. >> fred, that is true. still painful, though. for another look at the weather, here is nbc's bill karins. bill in high school i did that exact same thing except i actually ran to the wrong goal in lacrosse. i didn't have any excuse that i had the lucky shot. i just went the wrong way. i'm still not over it, apparently. >> i'd like to say i'm surprised

but i'm not. >> thank you, thank you. how about that weather, bill? move on. >> good morning, everyone. austin, tx tex, if you have friends or know about the city, that's probably the hot spot for the worse weather in the country. they've had 3 inches of rain in the last hour. pretty epic flash flooding is going on. it still is pouring. there's a big thunderstorm right over the top of it. it's redeveloping to the south of austin, which means it won't stop raining anytime soon. we could see historic flooding over the next couple hours. yesterday, another beautiful day of winter, if you want to call it winter in the east. 54 in hartford, 56 yesterday for a high in boston and d.c. was also 56. it's going to be cooler in this area by 10 degrees today. more of your typical warm winter day, unlike yesterday. temperatures in the 30s and 40s in most cases. all that rain that's in texas will eventually move its way into the southeast tonight and then up the east coast as we go throughout the day on thursday. there's really no winter weather on the map, lynn, just dealing with the flooding rains.

i almost feel like i'm giving a spring forecast. >> it's kind of bizarre. i can't imagine it will last. why demi moore is in the hospital and the latest showbiz coupling denying breakup rumors. he has lots of admirers and they are mad as heck that he didn't get any oscar nominations. that story is for bill. your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look." or, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] now there's a mileage card that offers special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret? ♪ [ male announcer ] the new united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in.

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welcome back to "first look." the tough times continue for actress demi moore who was

hospitalized monday night. she recently split with her husband, ashton kutcher and was at mitted for what her spokesperson quoted as exhaustion. a source said moore was rushed to the hospital for a substance abuse incident. she also bowed out of the upcoming film "lovelace." contrary to reports, her 14--year-old relationship with johnny depp is not over. a judge will rule on actress halle berry's attempt to keep the father of her child from contacting them until a child endangerment investigation is concluded. finally, first it was sexiest man alive, now fans of ryan gosling are up in arms because he was snubbed for an oscar nomination. the actor's film work in "drive" or "ides of march" should have

been recognized by the academac. i will not comment because i remain an unbiased journalists. >> i didn't see either movie yet. people say they're fantastic. i'm a firm believer ryan gosling should get his due. >> and call you at the same time. i'm lynn berry, this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned, "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. the state of our union is getting stronger. and we've come too far to turn back now. as long as i'm president, i will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. but i intend to fight obstruction with action and i will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place. >> president obama with a strong rhetorical speech calling for economic fairness in the country. proposing, among other