i'm willing to wager those are not the words the president will be using tonight but you may hear in one of the four, count them, four republican responses. i want to bring in the power panel with us now, keeren finney and robert tranum and "washington post" political columnist dana milbank. this is a power panel. president obama undoubtedly in a tough spot, talking tonight to a nation in a distinctly bad mood if you want to believe the poll numbers after five years in office, how does mr. obama reset? how does he hit refresh and get that hope and optimism going again? >> well, i think that's part of why you have in the runup to the state of the union, you've heard the administration officials talking about the president is going to be optimistic and positive and i think part of this idea of the phone and the pen is to denote an amount of

action. he's going to walk the balance between the things i'll get done on my own, i'll get done but still encouraging congress to work with him. the trip he'll take coming out of the state of the union are meant to create a sense of momentum and address the poll numbers you're talking about. americans are feeling frustrated right now. >> we want to talk quickly about the gop responses. not one, no two, but four responses planned. english spans, tea party response, the rand party response. how many republicans robert t n tranum does it take? >> historically there's been one. the reason why it refuses the viewer and american viewer, they are saying, who is speaking on behalf of the republican party here. this is by default a result of not having a republican president and head of the party. but still this is a little bit

confusing here. i would make the argument there should be one republican response and should be in english and also in spanish and we should be speaking with one voice. there is no different parts of the republican party here. there's only one republican -- >> whoa, there are no different parts to the republican party? >> let me rephrase that. inartful how i said that. what i meant is there is only one republican party. there's different factions of the party just like there's different factions of the democratic party. my simple response should be is that there should be only one response, the official republican response. >> dana, the president has talked a lot about taking executive action where congress will not work with him using his pen and the phone. what precisely, dana milbank can president obama to when he talks about executive action. what can he do with those tools? >> first of all, craig, it is important that they have four responses, the republicans, because one of them is likely to go through without needing a water break and they should go

with that one the next morning. >> you clearly have been working on that one all morning. >> ever since i heard rob's response. but the president basically all he can do is use his pen. it's not clear what he can use his phone to do. but he is facing a congress that is not going to do anything with a possible exception of immigration. and all of the talk is of this president -- the major legislation happening during this president's term is already over. now, that's an extraordinarily premature obituary. what the president needs to do is say, look, he's going to take actions on his own but i think he's got to go beyond that and really exort this congress and say let's not give up. let's actually push for big things, not just bite sized things. >> while you were talking we should note to viewers at home we were showing video from white house.gov of the president. our first read team notes for

the first time this white house has engaged in extensive prestate of the union outreach to groups like immigration, including some former clinton staffer as well. does that suggest to you an effort to break out of the bubble now six years in? >> i was going to say it only took six years. yeah, when i worked in the clinton administration, that was something that was done regularly because you wanted to know -- everybody comes with their laundry list, but at the same time you want to do the outreach so people feel like they were heard. it's a good thing -- it's a have positive sign that the president has done this. i think part of the reason they did it was also so they can start to look for where are those areas that they could do things, take actions without congress if need be and where are the priorities that each of the different groups has. the challenge is always then, putting that down into one speech that has a single theme and doesn't feel like it's a laundry list. the outreach is a fantastic thing and it's a great thing

he's going to be traveling after the fact to sell it because that's critical as well. >> the president will do a number of events in pennsylvania, be traveling there. there's an event planned for later in the week where he'll address long term unemployed in the country. robert, dana milbank mentioned immigration and the president's tone on immigration will be closely watched tonight and "new york times" reporting there is backing in the gop for a path to legal status for undocumented workers. legal status not citizenship, but legal status. this is speaker john boehner just a short time ago sounding not so sure today. take a listen. >> i'm open to discussion about immigration reform. we're going to talk to our members and once we talk to our members, more to say about how we move forward. >> really? robert trayhnum, one has to assume he has been talking about immigration for a while now.

at what point does the talk stop and action start? >> i think you have senator mcconnell and as well as speaker boehner saying they want some type of immigration reform. you saw him lower the temperature and lower expectations on the eve of the state of the union address. he wants to put the ball in the president's court to see how he's goss to message this, not only to the american people but also to the republicans in the chamber. what the speaker was doing was very smart political a and throwing the ball into the president's court and saying, let's have a conversation here and listen to what the president says tonight and see tomorrow morning how the polls respond to that. >> we should be listening closely in terms of language whether the president sounds like he's willing to compromise -- >> that's right. >> -- specifically which areas he should xpr he should compromise on? >> absolutely. >> mitt romney talked about the president's trust deficit last

night in particular, he blamed that promise that you could keep your health plan, he blamed that for it. take a listen to what he said. >> it's a very difficult thing to try to re-establish a reputation for integrity and honesty if you lost it in such a dramatic way as those promises demonstrated. >> dana, the president himself admitted he needs to win back some credibility. how far can he go to do that? what does he need to do that? >> i like mitt romney better when he was slow jamming on a previous night but he does make a legitimate point. as the economy i am proves as it seems to be doing, the president's numbers are going to go up in terms of job approval. the problem from history, once you lose trust when it appears americans don't believe you're looking out for them, when they don't believe you're honest and trust worthy, very hard to reverse that. so we've not seen him make movement along that.

there's soenl only so much you can do. americans will change their attitudes when the economy improves and that's about all he can hope for. >> karen, who the president's key audience tonight? >> middle class americans are the most important folks who are going to be listening. i mean folks in the middle class and folks hanging on with everything they can to be middle class. >> to answer your question specifically and politically speaking, he needs to speak to independence. those are the individuals out there that are just feel they have no political home. they feel no one is speaking to them. to karen's point about the economy, which is the number one issue, there are more and more americans out there identifying with the dependents because they feel the democrats and boehner and republicans don't speak for them. >> robert raises an interesting point we have midterm elections a few months away. how much of it is going to be a campaign speech tonight? >> the president is going to want to do the best he can to set the party up, if you will,

as the leader of the party and put forward ideas, that's where i'm sure you'll hear him talk about the minimum wage and try to take an executive action on that to get things moving. i agree disagree with robert a little bit. yes they are important but for the kinds of things the president is trying to get done between now and four or five months from now when the campaign begins in earnest, he needs the activism of people trying to help move these issues along. he needs to be the guy who is on the side of the people trying to get things done. that's where he's going to try to position himself. >> karen finney and dana milbank, and robert trayn ham. complete coverage leading up to the state of the union address. we'll have special coverage at 9:00 eastern and bases covered on the internet including a live

stream online. a possible deal on a foreign bill, what will that mean for food stamp funding? we'll talk to jim clyburn from south carolina and also ask him what he would like to hear from president obama tonight. [ julie ] growing up my mom let me use her home as an ice rink. she'd just grab the bounty select-a-size. one select-a-size sheet of bounty is 50% more absorbent than a full size sheet of the leading ordinary brand. use less, with bounty select-a-size. [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain, you turned up the fun. tylenol® provides strong pain relief while being gentle on your stomach. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®.

and i had like this four wheninch band of bumpsles it started on my back.uch more. that came around to the front of my body. and the pain from it was- it was excruciating. i did not want anyone to brush into me to cause me more pain than i was already enduring. i wanted to just crawl up in a ball and just, just wait till it passed. and less saturated fat? it's eb. eggland's best eggs. better taste. better nutrition. better eggs. it's eb.

i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. okay. let's i think i forgot to it's race dapay a bill. what's up ted? yep, paid that one. what about your mortgage? yep, paid that too. alright we're good then. man i feel like i'm forgetting something. eh, it's probably nothing. you worry too much ted. alright, hammer down! bank from almost anywhere with the citi mobile app. citi, with you every step of the way. is identifying farmers within a 50-mile radius of the stores within their community. capay valley puts some of the most beautiful heirloom tomatoes in the box and we get those to the store on the next day.

it's a really great relationship when you can buy fresh, flavorful, outstanding products from your neighbor. it's our passion for produce, combined with our strong sense of community. and we're able to deliver that experience by living local. ♪ john boehner apparently does not think very much of president obama's attempt to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers. in a sort of prebuttal to the state of the union speech so to speak, the house speaker indicated that he believes a plan to raise the wage over $10 on new government contracts is more show than substance. >> let's understand something. this affects not one current contract, it only affects future

contracts with the federal government. and so i think the question is how many people, mr. president, will this executive action actually help? i suspect the answer is somewhere close to zero. >> democratic congressman jim clyburn from my home state, south carolina, always good to see you, sir. >> thank you very much for having me. >> let's starts with where the speaker left off. does he have have a point? is the president's plan too narrow in focus? >> well, thank you for having me, melvin. i don't understand how the speaker can come to that conclusion. the fact of the matter is whenever this is done, whatever contracts and tomorrow happens to be a future contract, then people will be covered. i would hope, however, as i've expressed to the administration that we would have a definition of contracts to be broad enough

to get beyond the narrow contracts that may exist in washington or at the federal levels dealing with the private sector. states contract with the federal government. the security commission is 100% federally funded but state directed. i would hope that the president will define a government contractor in such a way that a lot of people far beyond a little contract we may think about will be covered. it certainly ought to be. >> congressman, you could be voting on a farm bill compromise as early as tomorrow. the bill reportedly contains $8 billion in cuts over 10 years to the food stamp program, a lot less than what house republicans and many of them originally wanted. is this a compromise you can live with? >> yes, it is. i work very hard on this. the chair of the congressional

black caucus, along with benny thompson and myself, the three of us met regularly with stabenow to try to get the number that was manageable. the 8.6 billion is manageable and will not get into what we call the benefits of the program. it will have a negative impact on some states but we think this is as good as an effort we could get under the circumstances. >> under the circumstances. congressman, the president's poll numbers, i'm sure you know, low right now. you and your 434 colleagues in the house up for re-election this year. the president is going to outline an agenda this evening there at the capitol. those poll numbers, how much more difficult does it make things for you? how much difficult does it make for the president's agenda?

>> well, i think the poll numbers are what they are. i think most of us agree that the american people are very anxious right now. there's a lot of anxiety. i just left the home yesterday, and talked to enough people over the weekend to know that people are very anxious. i think that the president's speech, however, could go a long ways toward calming people a little bit. and i do believe that his efforts to create opportunity and take action and really remain optimistic about the future, that's the way to go. we should not be pessimistic about this at all. most people know that we were in pretty trying circumstances and i think the president will give us to where we ought to be. >> congressman, before we let you go, what is the one thing you would like to hear from president obama tonight but you

will probably certain that you won't hear? >> well, i'm not certain what the president is going to say -- >> you've got a good idea. >> oh, yeah i got a good idea what i would like to hear him say. as you know, melvin, i have been a proposant of the president using his using his 14th amendment powers in regards to the debt limit. if a president of the united states can integ rate the armed services and free slaves using the executive order, i think this president ought to explore ways to make real big policy differences by using the policy that he has with the executive order. that's what i want to say more than anything else. >> assistant democratic leader south carolina congressman jim clyburn, thank you. >> thank you so much for having

me. >> care to make a wager? would you bet on a super bowl storm? most years would have a better chance of a snowstorm in the south. this year you might get both. we're going to have the forecast for big game which will take place here just outside new york city as we head to the break though, a live look from minneapolis, the twin cities there in minnesota where right now negative 8 degrees on this tuesday. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function

so moving is easier. celebrex can be taken with or without food. and it's not a narcotic. you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, like celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. don't take celebrex if you have bleeding in the stomach or intestine, or had an asthma attack, hives, other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history. and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion.

i took medicine but i still have symptoms. [ sneeze ] [ male announcer ] truth is not all flu products treat all your symptoms. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus severe cold and flu speeds relief to these eight symptoms. [ breath of relief ] thanks. [ male announcer ] you're welcome. ready? go.

[ male announcer ] you're welcome. so i tri [ male announcer ] you're welcome. ed depend so i and it made the difference between hearing about my daughter's gym meet, and being there. yeah! nailed it! unlike the bargain brand, depend gives you new fit-flex®, our best protection. it's a smooth and comfortable fit with more lycra strands. hi sweetie! get your free sample at depend.com. little surprise it's cold in january but today's deep freeze is headed way down into the deep south. frigid temps diving into places like houston, atlanta, new orleans, baton rouge, louisiana, where we find the weather channel's reynolds wolf. i'm from columbia, south carolina. and i remember vividly growing up just the talk of ice, the

talk of snow, would create a mad rush on the grocery stores. you would be hard pressed to find a roll of toilet tissue in a three mile radius. has it happened there yet in the bayou? >> reporter: you are so money and you don't even know it. you are dead on accurate. people tend to freak out in the south when you have that stuff. you're right about it, from south carolina to alabama where i grew up, when you have the winter conditions people go nuts. here in louisiana, what's interesting is that you're used to handling tropical systems and they have that down pretty well pat. but it's a little curveball for them and curveball for parts of the state. this is i-10 in baton rouge. you see cars here coming along the frontage road. but far back to the west, it is no bueno. icy conditions there. farther north towards alexandria, by way of interstate

49, headache, man, it's rough stuff. both directions travel is no go. it's closed in that area. conditions are expected to get worse into the afternoon and evening and more icing on the overpasses and a lot of bridges. there will be headaches to come. one of the headaches you have, often when you have ice storms and to be honest with this you doesn't matter where you happen to be, you often have power outages and entergy has 2100 workers and standing by waiting for outages already forming in the northern half of the state. in terms of the city, the city is shut down in baton rouge. lsu, home of fighting tigers, louisiana state university, students aren't working there. 45 out of 69 school districts kids are not showing up for school. still, one thing showing up, you have drivers on interstate 10

and a lot of truckers that have to work doing what they can. but people are told if you don't have to get on the roads today, by all means stay off. let's send it back to you. >> reynolds wolf in baton rouge, louisiana. thank y thank you very much, sir. all eyes are on the winter weather. how is this going to affect super bowl xlviii. it is media day today for the big game, broncos and seahawks squaring off nine miles from 30 rock. when the location was announced you probably remember this, critics pounced and farmer's almanac, quote, an intense storm with heavy rain, snow and strong winds. fortunately we have modern science to lean on and my friend bill karins to give us his best bet on the super bowl forecast. >> craig, i'm not here to give you the xort or tell you who's going to win.

these prop bets are crazy for the super bowl, you can bet on almost anything. we can actually bet on the weather. will it snow during the game and what will the temperature be and how cold will it get during the game? the first bet, what will the temperature be at kickoff the over/under is 32 degrees. i have the forecast at 33 at kickoff. i kind of agree, right near the number, but the trend has been warmer so i'm putting my money on the over 32 degrees. as far as the coldest temperature during the game itself, vegas thinks it's down to 28 degrees. will it stay warmer than 28? the temperatures will be dropping and cold front goes through, i'm going to go with above 32 at kickoff but below 28 by the time the game ends. i think we should be down close to 27. the final bet, will you see snow flakes during the game at all? see them on tv?

i don't think so. cold air moves in and it is dry. we may see rain or snow saturday night into sunday morning but not during the game itself. craig, we'll take your paycheck and parlay all three and go with over 32, under 28 during the game and no snow. we're going to buy you a new suit. back to you, buddy. >> guy is wearing an electric blue shirt taking a swipe at me. after the party, it's the afterparty. what will tonight's gop responders, all four of them, what will they have to say after the state of the union. we'll get a preview from that side of the aisle as the communications director for the rnc joins me on the other side of this break. this is the first power plant in the country to combine solar and natural gas at the same location.

during the day, we generate as much electricity as we can using solar. at night and when it's cloudy, we use more natural gas. this ensures we can produce clean electricity whenever our customers need it. ♪ i nethat's my geico digital insurance id card - gots all my pertinents on it and such. works for me. turn to the camera. ah, actually i think my eyes might ha... next! digital insurance id cards. just a tap away on the geico app. could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no one's around, it does make a sound? ohhh...ugh. geico. little help here.

nwas the most watchedage otelevision event ever.s so, what's next? the upcoming winter games from sochi. where every second of nbc universal's coverage will be available on every device. on tv, online or streaming on the nbc sports live extra app. beginning february 6th, experience the winter games everywhere. welcome to what's next. comcast nbcuniversal

i can't believe your mom has a mom cave! today i have new campbell's chunky spicy chicken quesadilla soup. she gives me chunky before every game. i'm very souperstitious. haha, that's a good one! haha! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right.

they may not hold the white house but the president's state of the union address is a big opportunity for the republican party. this year we'll see responses to the president not from one republican but from four. there's the republican party's official response which will be delivered by cathy morris rogers of washington and going to give the official gop response in spansish. then there's utah mike lee speaking on behalf of the tea party. and kentucky senator rand paul who will speak on behalf of himself. shawn speaks on behalf of the republican national committee and communications director over there. always good to see you. thanks for being with me. >> thanks for having me. >> let me just read something that you probably already have seen, veteran gop strategist work on campaigns for george w. bush among others. he said, quote, there's no clear leadership in the republican party right now. no clear direction or message and no way to enforce

discipline. because there's a vacuum and no shortage of cameras, there are plenty of act ors happy to audition. what say you to your fellow republican mark mckennen? >> times have changed since mark was in the game and there's a lot more opportunity for folks to tell the message. i don't think that's a problem. there's an official response, delivering the spanish response, translated from what cathy rogers will do. the more republican voices out there offering an alternative to the current state of things -- >> doesn't that -- >> our policies, the better. >> shawn, doesn't that dilute the voice? if you have four separate voices, which voice is the voice of the republican party? would that be cathy? >> i think as you mentioned, congresswoman mcmore rogers delivering the official response. we don't believe there's one

voice. that's why we believe we're a better party. we have a lot of different voices and big party with several different policy ideas and we have robust debates and come out with the best policies for families and businesses but i don't think you have to have everyone marching in lock step, as far as if you look at the other side of the aisle, they've all kind of coalesced behind the failed policies of the last six years and look where that's gotten us. >> let's talk about immigration. william crystal says pushing for reform this year is quote, one of the few things that could actually disrupt what looks like a strong republican year. he also went on to say immigration push would be a quote, recipe for disaster. kristol says you've been dealt a strong hand. how does it jeopardize that hand to push for reform that your own report concluded your party needs to do?

>> first, i think what obviously bill is referring to, the failure of obama care has been a gift for us republicans as we head into the midterm elections. i believe he's hoping we don't take away from that. what speaker boehner is doing is meeting with the conference this week and laying out a series of principles and trying to get consensus. but that's what governing is all about, we're seeing getting people together and putting ideas together and seeing what comes out of it. but i applaud the speaker for exhibiting leadership on trying to find a path forward and bringing the different voices and ideas in our party together trying to get everyone to coalesce around something for the good of the country. >> we're hearing the statement of principles unveiled later this week is going to call for a path to legal status, not citizenship from any of the 11 million or so adult immigrants in the country illegally. how do you expect that particular part of the plan itself to help with latino voters? >> well, first, it's way

premature for me to comment on these principles. they have not been officially laid out and speaker has not put them from front of the house conference. i'm not going to get ahead of the speaker on that. i would say part of what this last few years have done is allowed us to have a conversation with different constituencies as far as what's in the best interest of the country. this is not always about scoring political points. trying to figure out what the best policy are for our country so we secure our borders and don't up with a program where we granted a.mnesty and trying to put a comprehensive plan together that ensures our borders secure and that recognizes the fact that we have a lot of folks here in the country illegaldy and have to deal with them -- >> not to cut you off, i hear you using the phrase secure or borders and not talking about the path to citizenship. when you talk about securing our borders, the number of deportations under this administration higher than any

president regardless of policy in modern history. you look at the arrests per border patrol agent, the lowest in 20 years. that phrase secure our borders, in light of those numbers, what does that phrase even mean? >> first of all it means you have people coming into the country illegally working illegally, being given refuge illegally. trying to make sure we have a system that frankly everybody on both sides of the aisle would agree is broken. it's trying to make sure we have a system that allows people to come into the country in a regulated way that we all know the rules and people can come in here, that work as permitted when certain criteria are met. there's no one that would argue that the current system is working well for this country. and when you can get people to come in from the north and from the south -- >> but you acknowledge -- >> you would acknowledge that the borders are not nearly as porous as they were a decade

ago? >> i think in some cases they are and some cases this aren't. if you look along areas of arizona and texas, officials down there would beg to differ. i agree, certain areas have gotten better, yeah. >> quickly here, i want to talk about your fearless leader house speaker john boehner, tomorrow republicans kick off the three-day retreat on the eastern shore of maryland. let's listen to him on our network here on nbc just last week. >> people that hear the speaker, you're the leader and don't realize i've got a lot of other roles i play. some members i have to be the big brother figure. some i have to be the father figure. others i have to be the dean of students or principal or some i have to be the kos top poe. >> briefly here, how are the divisions in your party going to play out with regards to that vote specifically in light of what the speaker just said?

>> i think there's a huge concern in our party about the debt. we went from $10 trillion from president obama went in now at 17 trillion. it's more than every other president before himmen combined. there's a big concern we keep passing the buck every time, finding a way to control our debt and spending in a responsible way going to be under discussion as well. >> shawn, facts are important and the fact of the matter is if you look at the debt in this country as a portion of the gdp, it's the lowest it's been since the eisenhower administration, that's undenibl. >> when the president was campaigning in 2008, he called what was then less than 10 trillion unpatriotic and unacceptable. now it's 17, just five and a half yeerds later under his watch. if 10 was unpatriotic and unacceptable under george bush, i don't see how 17 in any way is acceptable. so it may be a percentage of

whatever but the president needs to be held to his own standard frankly and that's what i think hopefully we hope to do. >> shawn spicer, always good to see you, thank you so much. >> what's in a guess? the president will have the words tonight but a lot of folks are talking about some of those attending tonight's remarks and what their attendance symbolizes. i don't just make things for a living i take pride in them. so when my moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis was also on display, i'd had it. i finally had a serious talk with my dermatologist. this time, he prescribed humira-adalimumab. humira helps to clear the surface of my skin by actually working inside my body. in clinical trials, most adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis saw 75% skin clearance. and the majority of people were clear or almost clear in just 4 months.

humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. make the most of every moment. ask your dermatologist about humira, today. clearer skin is possible. ♪ clovers and blue moons shoes ♪ hourglasses, rainbows ♪ and tasty red balloons let's go! ♪ lucky charms ♪ frosted lucky charms ♪ they're magically delicious

i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. this year 17 guests will be seated with the first lady to hear the speech, kentucky's democratic governor, seeing a fair amount of success with implementing obamacare, and jason colin linz, and moments ago we learned that one of the members, one of the cast members of "duck dynasty" will be in

appearance. willie robertson, son of the family who made those anti-gay comments last year and ann gearan and angela write and principle with impact strategies. let me start with you. quts duck dynasty is going to be in the house tonight. >> yay! >> you know the guests typically symbolize something. >> the guests typically symbolize either a political statement or strong position of a member on a policy position. this is the gop's way of throwing in their face that money still rules networks and the show didn't lose dispute the horrible comments made by its

patriarch. >> the atlanta area woman last year who saved an elementary school, saved an elementary school and talked the 20-year-old into giving up her gun. >> we can make of the fact that there were 23 executive actions that the president put on the table last year to address gun safety and two more at the beginning of this year. so we can did he haefinitely se every intention on moving forward as gun safety and we have a lot more left to go. she's an hero but she's an exception and not the rule. >> we're also going to meet the subjects of that iconic photograph from the boston bombing, jeff who lost his leg and carlos arredondo who helped him. the state of the union addresses also contain come together moments as well for the american people too, correct? >> yeah, there are the president typically uses the power of the

speeches to show case not only policy priorities but also some things like the national outrage and national mourning that followed the boston bombing. and these two menu mentioned were the subject of a really iconic photograph, the first responder rushing the badly injured spectator away from the scene. and the two have since become friends and it was bauman's description of what he saw that was crucial in of leading to the arrest of the two alleged bombers. so that's a chance for the president to show case the way the nation comes together. >> that picture really symbolizing the tragedy and heroism of that day.

bringing the mayor of ft. lee, the site of the new infamous bridge closures, sokolich. >> congressman pass quer rel wanted to invite someone from his district. >> would he have gotten the invite had -- >> he definitely thought about it but that wasn't the sole reason. he got someone else to come along with him. but also, at least he has that covered. >> speaking of republican, republican congressman from oklahoma is bringing the father of a navy s.e.a.l. who was killed during the benghazi attacks in 2012. what's the message here? >> well, that's a very sharply critical political message the republicans to president obama. he was accused last year and has been throughout of not doing

enough to prevent the benghazi attacks, which killed four americans, including this man's son and navy s.e.a.l. and as was hillary clinton, who was then the secretary of state and is a likely or possible democratic candidate next time around. and their message is you could have done more to prevent it. it's your failing. >> thank you so much. do appreciate you. >> thank you. >> we should note here one of the those guests, one of those guests of the first family tonight, is going to be joining me tomorrow with reaction to state of the union. coming up, is it too early to talk legacy? a president historian and presidential speechwriter both going to join me in a few moments to talk not only about the rhetoric of the president but the responders to. [ woman ] i will embrace change... everything life throws my way. except for frown lines. those i'm throwing back.

[ female announcer ] olay total effects. nourishing vitamins, and 7 beautiful benefits in one. for younger-looking skin. olay. your best beautiful. add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get $100 off your deductible for every year of safe driving. which means you could save... a lot of benjamins. we put members first, because we don't have shareholders. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side i took medicine but i still have symptoms. [ sneeze ] [ male announcer ] truth is not all flu products treat all your symptoms. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus severe cold and flu speeds relief to these eight symptoms. [ breath of relief ] thanks. [ male announcer ] you're welcome. ready? go. how much money do you think you'll need when you retire?

then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ four hours on the slopes.urs on weights.a longer retirement. and two hours doing this stuff. which leaves me approximately two minutes to get my banking done. so i use the citi mobile app to quickly check my accounts and pay my bills. which leaves me about five seconds to kick back. that was nice. bank from almost anywhere with the citi mobile app. citi, with you every step of the way. nwas the most watchedage otelevision event ever.s

so, what's next? the upcoming winter games from sochi. where every second of nbc universal's coverage will be available on every device. on tv, online or streaming on the nbc sports live extra app. beginning february 6th, experience the winter games everywhere. welcome to what's next. comcast nbcuniversal

our critics have said we are for too much government while they want the government off our banks. we want the govern off our backs to but need it by our side. >> the more things change the more they stay the stapame. that was bill clinton giving a response to reagan's state of the union. tonight, will one of them go on to be president some day? director for the library at nyu and craig schmit, a former speechwriter for gerald ford and center for first amendment studies. let me start with you, let's talk about the folks who have given the response to this state of the union address over the years. you've got gerald ford in 1966 and 1967. george h.w. bush in 1968.

al gore in 1982 and joe biden 1983 and 1984. of course we just got a glimpse of bill clinton in 1985. should this be viewed tonight, should we see this as a right of passage for aspiring presidents? >> we didn't show the pictures of the people who gave responses and whose careers didn't go anywhere? after all, for most of us, the most recent one we remember is bobby jindal. that was a tough one to watch. >> that was a tough one to watch. look, think of the response as the farm team, it's a training opportunity, they are training people to see if they have what it takes. bill clinton was lucky because he got two shots. he gave a terrible speech at the convention -- >> that's right, went on forever. >> well, it's a speech to be remembered because when he said inconclusion -- every applauded. then he had another chance.

yes, one of the four could be but here's the really, if i might, what i think people should be watching tonight. the republican party is in the midst of an idealogical civil war. the issues that are highlighted will give us a sense of who's winning in the debate. rand paul represents a very interesting wing of the republican party. if he becomes a nominee, that means that wing, libertarian wing won. his response, the response of the others are key because those will be giving the watch for what they'll be doing in eight months. >> craig, let me bring you in here. it does seem it's standard operating procedure for the president to start the state of the union with something along the lines of, the state of our union is strong or marvelous or some adjective like that. but that has not always been the case. take a listen. >> and i must say to you that

the state of the union is not good. >> that was gerald ford in 1975 and, again, your former boss, you were bucking convention so to speak there. what was the thinking? why not start the speech on an optimistic tone? >> well, i think the president when ford became president he set the tone of being an honest guy. he wanted to keep that going, that he was going to level with the american people and tell them the truth no matter how much it hurt. people really admired him for that. >> you know, this is a constitutionally required speech and it has evolved undoubtedly over the years. how so? 30 seconds. >> 30 seconds, these speeches are never known for great rhetoric. they are designed to tell the rest of the federal government what the priorities of the white

house have become. what's exciting tonight is to see there's always tension in the sixth year of a two-term presidency to see the balance between the electoral requirements of the party and the president's legacy. is obama going to be more worried about winning democratic seats in november or is he going to be thinking about what people are going to remember about an obama presidency once he has left? you'll see that tension will be how in deals with income inequality, minimum wage and other issues that he would like to use to define his presidency but might not help him keep seats in alaska and north carolina. >> we'll leave it there. thank you so much. >> craig smith, thank you as well, wish we had more time to talk about, author of the forthcoming book, "confessions of a presidential speechwriter." that's going to do it for us. stay us with for complete coverage including special coverage with rachel maddow and

chris matthews. we're live on our website as well. andrea mitchell reports next. she'd just grab the bounty select-a-size. one select-a-size sheet of bounty is 50% more absorbent than a full size sheet of the leading ordinary brand. use less, with bounty select-a-size. feels like listerine®? than a full size sheet of the leading ordinary brand. [ male announcer ] ever wonder why no other mouthwash because no other mouthwash works like listerine®. in your mouth, bacteria forms in layers. listerine® penetrates these layers deeper than other mouthwashes, killing bacteria all the way down to the bottom layer. so for a cleaner, healthier mouth, go with #1 dentist recommended listerine®. power to your mouth™. also try listerine® pocketpaks to kill bad breath germs on-the-go. [ male announcer ] you've never watched her like this before. never taken the time to just...watch. but something about spending this time together --

sailing past ancient glaciers in alaska, talking under a universe billions of years old -- makes you realize how old time is and how short life is. she can take all the time she wants. princess cruises. come back new. ♪ [ chainsaw whirring ] humans -- sometimes life trips us up. sometimes we trip ourselves up. and although the mistakes may seem to just keep coming at you, so do the solutions. like multi-policy discounts from liberty mutual insurance. save up to 10% just for combining your auto and home insurance. call liberty mutual insurance at... [ thump ] to speak with an insurance expert and ask about all the personalized savings available for when you get married, move into a new house, or add a car to your policy.

personalized coverage and savings. all the things humans need to make our world a little less imperfect. call... and ask about all the ways you could save. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. [ screaming ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing the bold, all-new nissan rogue with intuitive all-wheel drive

because winter needs a hero. ♪ we can say with renewed confidence that the state of our union is strong. >> right now live from capitol hill, a special edition of andrea mitchell reports, stand and deliver. eight hours from now the president addresses a nation divided and according to the new poll, disappointed in the leadership, can he turn it around tonight? >> i like it. i think it's -- i think the framework is right. >> and southern discomfort, a once in a generation storm ices over the south leaving cities scrambling to deal with freezing rain and snow without salt or plows, even snow shovels are in short supply. the iconic voice of protest across generations, remembering

pete seeger. ♪ this land was made for you and me ♪ >> good day and welcome. i'm andrea mitchell live from capitol hill for a special state of the union edition of "andrea mitchell reports." the state of our union is pessimistic, increasing the pressure on president obama to reignite hope for the last three years of his presidency. cecilia is the director of the white house council and joins me now from the white house. thank you so much for joining ugs. any last rewrites? what's happening behind the scenes? >> there's polishing going on of the draft as always happens on the day the