symmetrical all-wheel drive plus 34 mpg. love. it's what makes a subaru a subaru. it is tuesday, january 20th good afternoon i'm krystal ball and i believe the state of the union is improving but unequal. >> i'm ari melbourne and i believe it is as the founders intended. >> i believe it is full of home. >> and i'm in for toure and i believe the state of the union is better than you think it is. but what do you believe? all right, everyone. it is six hours away from president obama's sixth official state of the union address. the final tweets are right now

being -- tweaks are right now being made to that speech at the white house while up on the hill, the white house went into recess so security sweeps can begin ahead of the president's arrival. this is the first time obama will address a republican controlled house and senate in a joint session. the president's overall approval rating is improving and americans are growing more confident in how he's handling the economy. that is one of the most important issues for americans this year. when you look at the mood of the nation, you can see where he might face a tough crowd tonight, 59% fear the nation is on the wrong track. more americans are pessimistic about his second term. the self--proclaimed fourth quarter of his presidency. most persons say that a divided government like the one we have right now simply doesn't work for our country. so what can he say to try to change their minds? kristen welker is at the white house. what can you tell us about the speech they are drafting? >> reporter: it is a unique state of the union of course krystal, because the president

has laid out a number of the policies he's going to talk about tonight ahead of time. and white house officials tell me part of that strategy is to frame the debate with congress with republicans taking over congress and also to allow tonight's speech to be focused more on the story-telling aspect and the story the president wants to tell. he will argue there has been a resurgence in the american economy and of course the statistics are emboldening him as he prepared to deliver his sixth state of the union address. the unemployment rate is now at 5.6%. when he took office it was at 7.8%. as you just pointed out, his approval rating is up so he is going to talk about some of the controversial policies that he unveiled in the recent days like increasing taxes on the wealthy, closing the trust fund loophole increasing capital gains taxes to give tax breaks to the middle class. here is how josh earnest framed his speech today on morning joe.

>> now we have the economy on solid enough footing and momentum behind the economic resurgence that we can start having a serious discussion about what our tax policies should look like now that we've gotten out of the chris is and put it behind us. we can turn the page and have more freedom to be focusing on the kinds of policyies to benefit middle class families. >> reporter: and the strategy is laying the groundwork of his legacy for his remaining two years and he'll continue to sell his message when he hits the road tomorrow. he'll go to deep red idaho and kansas and then on thursday he'll hold a series of interviews with you tube celebrities. so another unconventional way of selling his message to try to reach a broader audience. krystal, back to you. >> kristen welker at the white house. appreciate it. and now on the hill where

tonight's speech takes place and the sergeant of arms proclaims this. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states. [ applause ] . and of course nbc's luke russert is already there. >> that never gets old, krystal. that is fabulous. >> it is a lot of fun. is it getting exciting over there. >> oh, where else would you rather be here krystal ball? here on the hill we are looking forward to what the gop response will be from senator joni ernst and mitch mcconnell said earlier today and you heard about turning the page well mitch mcconnell wants to turn the page on all of the animosity before and perhaps they can figure out the way the white house and the republican-led congress can work together. all of that is easier said than done. expect to hear in the republican response about conciliatory preference to move -- reference

to move forward and not specifics and the messaging is fascinating in joni ernst. who this time last year was a pig farmer and has had a rise in politics and it shows what kind of country america is and she is someone who is really well versed in the politics of personality and that is something that mitch mcconnell said around the christmas break, that he wants republicans to move forward on not being the big bad guys in the room and show a new face. well that is what joni ernst will attempt to do tonight opposite president obama. a big task and they believe she can do it. whether that creates bipartisanship for the rest of the year remains to be seen. as an observer on capitol hill since 2009 i would say probably not. back to you. >> that state of the union is response. >> don't drink too much water like rubio. >> or like jindal. >> thank you so much. and how this speech might

compare to past let's bring in nbc news presidential historian michael benlass. thank you for being with us. the speech has specifics in terms of where we are in the country, the newly controlled republican senate but talk to us about looking back at history and other presidents in their last two years of the presidency and the second term of office what have they historically used this state of the union address to accomplish? >> to try to gather a few last shreds of power because it usually is not a great story. to go back to a seventh year president who had control of both houses of congress you have to go back to harry truman in 1961 and what he was able to pass in the last two years even though it was a democratic congress was very little. and it was 50 years ago that lyndon johnson was inaugurated

for a full term 1955. he had the biggest congress except for fdr and passed voting rights medicare aid to education and the things we think of as a great society but they were only passed the first five or six months because even though johnson had that enormous control of congress he knew and it did come to pass after about six months members of congress, seven swing states would rebel against him. so there is a myth that someone with both houses of congress can get whatever he wants. >> and we see second term presidents try to burnish their legacy and talk about what has worked in their administration. i was talking to brian beeos and this is what he said. >> i think you'll see in the speech and the budget is a. an

explanation of why the president has done what he did over the last six years, and why the pieces he's focused on whether it is saving the economy from the great depression save the auto industry provide affordable health care or drive the energy industry in a new direction and how they fit together to build a fermer economic foundation to build from. >> so michael, how do you claim credit as a president for a recovery or a policy that isn't fully successful yet? >> it is very hard. because it is much harder nowadays. for instance january of 1963 john kennedy gave what turned out to give his point guard naptly last state of the union, but he said the state of this old but youthful union is good. if he had said that under the atmosphere of nowadays people would say how could the president say that. there are still many people

locked in poverty, african-americans in many places cannot vote and do not have equal rights people would come down on him. so it is a much more difficult thing for president obama in this atmosphere to do the kind of things that you were talking about. >> michael, there are three numbers i want to read to you. the president's -- i'm sorry, the congress's approval rating which is about 16%. and then the stubborn numbers. 45% say that the president is too stubborn to work with the gop and 55% say that it is the republicans who are too stup stubborn -- stubborn to work with the president. so is the gop on firm ground to do the battle with the president on the ideas he will present tonight? the republicans like to say that they are speaking for the american people well judging by those numbers, the approval ratings, the american people don't really like them at all? >> and it doesn't necessarily help. in 1947 harry truman came to

give his steub and he had just -- his state of the union and he had just lost the house sand senate since the beginning of the 1930s and he was facing an opposition republican congress and that republican congress began passing all sorts of things like a taft-hartley bill that was tough on organized labor. all sorts of things that ultimately allowed truman the next year to go to the democratic convention and say, i'm running against this good-for-nothing congress that went into overdrive the second you gave it to the keys to the car in both houses. so i think the leaders of the house and the senate the republicans are in a situation where they know mitch mcconnell and speaker boehner, if that happens this time that could help a democratic nominee for president, because whoever he or she might be might say you need a democratic president to make sure that a republican congress does not go out of control in

2017. >> the speech tonight comes at a really important time for the the nation with fears of terrorism. but also michael, at a time that you are speaking to that is divided in the country. the latest nbc poll shows 59% that a divided government isn't working working. and young people say i don't want to identify with either party, i'm so tired of it. but you compare this to bill clinton and the numbers were reverses. you have 55% saying the government did work. so given this mood of the country, how does the president tonight speak not just to the american people who are frustrated but to a congress that can't agree on anything? >> abby if you look at the internals of the late 1990s, run of the reasons americans said the country is divided because the economy was booming. but if it were as great as it was in 1998 my guess is that people would say divided

government is a good thing. but this comes back to the beginning of the barack obama presidency. many of the people who loved him and voted for him in 2008 did so -- some republican and some independents -- because they thought this is someone who can bridge the divide and come together with certain republicans on the other side and even in a divided period i'm looking for signs of that tonight. >> michael beschloss. thank you forgive giving us access to that brain of yours. >> it is my pleasure. >> and the terror threat expected to be in the state of the union and in the news. we have speech writers from both sides of the ooifl and we have special gets tonight and more from the behind the scenes look as how the speech comes together as "the cycle" rolls on. it is tuesday, january 20th.

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as we count down to the state of the union the state of foreign affairs is tenuous at best. case in point, the latest terror by isis. they are out with a video showing two japanese hostages taken for ransom. the ransom 200$200 million, paid within 72 hours. this move comes after the japanese pledged to fight isis offering that same amount of money in the form of military assistance. now this is the latest and probably not the last example of the unpredictable nature of isis that so many of us back here at home are concerned. in the new poll we've shown you

three quarters of americans believe defeating isis is the priority in 2015 and that is more than some of the jobs agenda. so the commander-in-chief is getting poor marks on foreign relations. peter welch, democrat from vermont joins us from the hill. always great to see you. >> thank you. >> you sit on the oversight committee focused on national security and homeland defense and the top of everyone's mind tonight is isis and the threat of terrorism. republicans, as you know have been critical of the administration's approach including senator john mccain who had this to say earlier on andrea mitchell. >> let's remember that the president trumpeted yemen as the success story of his foreign policy and national security policies which of course is just ludicrous

ludicrous. the president keeps talking about the end of war at the last state of the union ending the war, bin laden is dead and we've eliminated core al qaeda -- that is all ridiculous. isis is on the march. isis has been expanding and winning. >> congressman, some strong words there from senator john mccain about the administration's approach to isis. do you agree with anything he said and what do you hope to hear from the president tonight? >> the part i agree with is isis is a vicious organization and will do anything to instill terror in all of us. but there are two issues. and that is what the senator did address. this is a sunni-shiite conflict and that will go on until there is a political resolution in those countries at the heart of this. i don't agree with senator mccain when he is getting in the middle of the war in syria or yemen. we have to work with our allies to contain it as much as possible. but the second issue, and this is what is terrifying people is

the one-off events of horrible terrorist activity like in paris. and that is why i say, we've got to get a long-term homeland security funding bill out of this republican congress. because what we're afraid of -- a lot of americans are afraid of is could that happen here if you had a lone terrorists or a couple working together to go to a soft target and kill a lot of innocent people. so let's get a homeland security bill. >> and you talk about homeland security and the american public is listening and so it the american people and i want to play a moment from george w. bush's 2002 state of the union. take a listen. >> states like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world by seeking weapons of mass destruction. these regimes pose a grave and growing danger.

>> that axis he was talking about, north korea iran iraq. here we are 13 years later with a democratic president who has been accusing north korea of cyber attacks, warning iran of dire consequences if negotiations break down and as we are discussing dealing with these problems stemming from failures in iraq and syria, but the president wants a new authorization against isis. do you at all worry we might hear too combative of a foreign policy tonight. >> i do worry about that a little bit. i'm of the view that these conflicts that are in syria and in iraq and that largely have a political origin between the sunni and shiite conflicts that go back centuries is nothing something american taxpayers should be able to solve. we will play our role. but the military cannot solve this. the president has a legitimate concern and we all do but what is the four corners of the american involvement. people are concerned about terrorism but that doesn't mean we should go to war in syria or go back with boots on the ground

in iraq or afghanistan. >> congressman, we started the conversation talking about isis and one of the things that the american people were horrified by were the beheading of americans. and given the anguish of those families who have watched their family members killed in the most brutal way possible should the united states reconsider its policy of not negotiating, not paying ransom for american hostages? >> we can't pay ransom. and one of the things about terrorism that is so traumatic for everyone even though it is not directly involved is it doesn't take much of an emergenciation to put our -- much of our imagination, to put ourself in the place of these families. and that is about advertising and about recruiting more people and instill more fear.

i don't believe paying ransom is an option. >> i want to turn to your trip from cuba. you are just back from a three-day delegation trip there. i want to get your upon on both sides of the aisle. marco rubio is elevating his disagreements with the policy by bringing the daughter of a cuban dissident killed under mysterious circumstances to the state of the union tonight. how do you respond to the critics that making these changes is rewarding an oppressive regime that collaborates with our enemies. >> i agree with rubio, with the government people don't have a decision and they are put in prison for their beliefs. but the nonengagement didn't work as a policy to try to make a new dynamic for democratic

reform in cuba. so the end of the embargo, or the opening up relationships with cuba is going to take away an excuse that the castro brothers had. and it is interesting, because when we were in cuba the cuban people that we met with including dissidents were very happy with the fact there will be normalization. and they hope it will help create a new dynamic. and a lot of latin american countries that have given the castro brothers a pass for their policies because they oppose the u.s. and nonengagement policy they don't have an excuse either. in fact, a lot of the critics are right with what they criticize but embracing the embargo is a way to change it i think it is clearly a failed policy. >> very interesting stuff. congress peter welch, thank you for your insight. >> thank you. and the nbc special coverage of the state of the union hosted by rachel maddow and chris

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president washington ban this tradition in 1790 after reminding the nation that the destiny of self-government and the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty is finally staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the american people. >> the anchor in our world today is freedom. >> we know big government does not have all of the answers. we know there is not a program for every problem. >> these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. >> with or without this congress i will keep taking

actions that help the economy grow. >> i can do a whole lot more with your help. >> over the past three decades, the players might have changed but the topics that dominate the annual state of the union address still resonate today and at a time when less than a third of americans feel we are headed in the right direction, the president has a tough task ahead of him tonight. he has to convince the american people that we can and will right the ship. he is not the first president to face this daunting task and he will not be the last. it all goes back to the power of words. joining us now are two then that know a thing or two about drafting the state of the union. david from a senior editor at the atlantic but before that a speech writer and david kusnak and led speech writing for the president during his first two years. >> thank you for having us. >> and let me start with david. given with the president is at

this point. he has house and senate he doesn't have to run for re-election and protect red state demes, if you were drafting this speech what would you hope to accomplish? >> i would hope to accomplish a cementing of the president's legacy for economic growth. but what he is planning on doing, which is different from what i would advise is to redefine not the country and his legacy but his party. this speech is a speech to democrats. and he's urging his party to steer a more left-ward course than it has been able to steer over the last six years and that he fears hillary clinton or his likely successor will want to steer over the four years beginning in 2016. >> many are saying it is a speech for 2016. david, i want to go to you. often the state of the union is the great time to press the re-set button for a new year and reminding mesh inging americans what

our values are, but does it translate to action. because the next day it is politics as usual in d.c.? can you give us recent examples in history where a speech led on to some bold action? >> well i think most of the state of the union speeches that we remember are in the first two years of a president's term and they usually begin -- i think every president but one from reagan through obama begins by offering an economic program and most of them are able to get it enacted. by the sixth year and the second term of a president re-elected what you tend to get at best is a description of the journey that america has taken under their leadership and a prescription for what needs to be done to address the unfinished business over the next two years. and i think what president obama is going to do tonight is say as many presidents before him have

said that the state of the union is strong and getting stronger as presidents clinton and reagan before him did. he will credit the american people with working so hard to achieve an economic recovery. and then what he's going to talk about is what we need to do to make that recovery translate into raising wages and improving living standards for the great majority of the american people. >> david from abby and her question was the state of the union is a good way to re-set the conversation. but is it time to re-set the state of the union, and is it time to rethink the way the state of the union is used in the modern age? >> you mean the speech itself? >> yeah. >> well no president is ever going to give it up because the last president who made a serious attempt to do it differently was richard nixon and he came to a bad end. he sent congress a series of written position papers and did not appear in person and they are substantive but it didn't

lead to a lot of result and of course how that story happened. it is too tempting. even though as chris will say, whether it has any impact especially after the first one or two, it is presidents never lose faith in the power of thur communicative magic no matter how much there is proof to the contrary. >> 33 million watches it live last year and that was second term. i was interviewing jen polyary about the kinds of lines that don't make it in. let me play her answer on that. >> you fight really hard -- passionately hard for a particular phrase or a line and maybe a week later you can't recollect it but i think that there is a phrase in this speech that sums up the speech well and

you'll hear it. >> is it domestic? >> it is domestic. it is about the economy and it is about the middle class. >> so it is about the middle class. she wouldn't give too much away but maybe you could tell us any favorite lines of yours that never made it into an address and what would be a snappy line for the president on the middle class tonight? >> well the great thing about working for president clinton is that he didn't use everything you gave him, but he remembered everything you gave him. so very often we find we would give him a line for one speech and he would sort of think it over and wouldn't use it in the speech we gave it to him for but then he would include it in a speech somewhere down the road and surprise us by giving it. nothing ever went completely to waste. >> so incredible -- go ahead, david. >> if i were going to suggest a line for president obama tonight, and it happens to be

the title of a book that i co-wrote it would be that america needs a raise. we have generated jobs and now it is time to raise wages and income. that is something that everyone from speaker boehner to president obama has talked about and i think he should capture that slogan as well. >> i think that is very well said. david kusned and david fromm. and david will join me tomorrow at 11:00 on nbc.com. and tonight i'll be hosting the digital live coverage of the speech starting at 8:00 people eastern so second screen us at msnbc.com.

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and let a representative help you get started. >> g47! >> bingo! >> you didn't! ♪ --i don't know my credit score. that's really important. i mean - i don't know my credit score. don't you want to buy a house...like, ever? you should probably check out credit karma, it's free. credit? karma? free? credit karma. really free credit scores. we know the political climate is heated in washington but what about the weather in d.c. tonight. raffi is here with that and the rest of the national forecast. raffi, what can we expect? >> good afternoon. well thankfully quiet around d.c. and through the next few

hours. we're tracking a few hours to the north of washington, d.c. along i-70 towards baltimore. plain old rain. not cold enough for snow. a weak clipper system is moving through but it is 48 degrees in the capital. milds overnight. temperatures in the 40s through new york. this is a weak clipper system moving on through. not a lot of juice with this one. tomorrow though the nation's capital and new york city could see some snow. a winter weather advisory for tomorrow morning, from 1-3 inches of snow possible from d.c. also the ohio valley and even new york city. by tomorrow evening we could have a coating to an inch of snow on the ground. and also not a whole lot of winter to talk about. maybe that changes this weekend. here in the northeast there is a coastal storm potential that we're tracking for saturday. so we'll stay tuned for that. >> raffi thank you. if you don't know the name ana zimm ora, you will after tonight. she is one of the first lady's guest, allowed to stay in the

country under the president's immigration policy. she will be in the gallery to highlight the need for immigration reform and right now the president has the country's surp port for-- support for it. 52% approve of his policy and 44% not supporting in our new nbc wall street journal poll. but digging into the numbers, you'll see only 15% disapprove of the policy itself. it is a policy that is very personal to our next guest, as a california dreamer she's made it her life's mission to fight for the rights of undocumented immigrant students. >> >>. [ crying ] >> aggression sadness, fortunate, courageous. i want to be free. >> joining us now is italia garcia and a democratic congressman from california who

invited her to be his guest at the state of the union tonight. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having us. >> and so as i pointed out in the nbc wall street journal poll, 52% of americans favor immigration reform but there isn't so much support for it on capitol hill. so congress i guess this question is toward you, what is the chances that the republican-controlled congress will actually do something and send a bill to the president in a he could sign -- that he could sign that could bring about comprehensive immigration reform. >> realistically, i don't know that this congress -- this republican-controlled congress is prepared to do anything at all. they had a tremendous opportunity in the 113th congress to pass the bipartisan senate bill which had 14 republican senators sign onto it. it was a terrible tragedy to me that we did not have a vote in the house. that democracy was not allowed to work. i believed along with many others, that that bill would

have passed had it been allowed a fair chance. had it been allowed a vote. >> right. italia i want to get your thoughts on recent actions by house republicans. they voted to block the president's actions on immigration and specifically to end the deferred action for childhood arrivals program that allows dreamers like yourselves in some cases to stay in the country without fear. they seem to view this as sort of a chance to make a political point and an empty symbolic gesture. do you view it that way or more as a direct attack on your community? >> it definitely is a direct attack toward our community. the immigrant community will remember these attacks on it and when it comes to 2016 it is definitely something to keep in mind. the latino vote is very very important. and the community, when it feels under attack we definitely fight back. >> absolutely. that is a good point. and congressman, you know this the president hasn't always

satisfied activists on immigration. in fact up until his later executive action there was a lot of anger that he wasn't bold enough. are activists satisfied, are you satisfied and what more would you like to hear tonight from president obama on this? >> well i'm very clear that the immigrant community knows that president obama is on their side. i believe that the president needs to stand strong call on the congress to pass the homeland security funding bill to stop messing around with our national security. folks like italia are not a threat to our country. she and her parents are very hard-working people. if we were to deport them and along with other people, we would actually hurt our economy. if we had passed the comprehensive immigration bill done by the senate last session, we would have grown our economy by a significant amount.

more than it is now. >> congress mark tackano and italia garza, thank you very much. and up next how the speech is delivered. ari takes us to the advisers who craft the speech. a behind the scenes look only on msnbc. >> what are you guys working on? >> this is a very important state of the union speech. over $98 million dollars and creating over 2100 jobs. from long island to all across upstate new york, more businesses are coming to new york. they are paying no property taxes no corporate taxes no sales taxes. and with over 300 locations, and 3.7 million square feet available, there's a place that's right for your business. see if startup-ny can work for you. go to startup.ny.gov. that detergent was like half the price! and we'll have to use like double! maybe more! i'm going back to the store? yes you are.

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when the president delivers the state of the union tonight he will give a statement months in the making. as i saw on friday white house policy aides spend months planning and testing proposals, speech writers pound through re re-writes and they decide what could win an argument in washington or go viral online. the cycle got a look into the rare wing days before the biggest night of the year. here is my report. >> this is where it all happens? >> this is where it all happens. >> it is the final few days before the state of the union and the west wing is buzzing. we got a rare behind-the-scenes look in the white house as aides prepared for the biggest night of the year. >> this is the world series and the final four and it is all rolled into one for the obama speech writing operation. >> dan pheifer, senior adviser to the president starts from the beginning. >> when you sit down with the president months before the

speech and let him do a download of what he is thinking. >> what would it be like on the night of the state of the union around here? >> jennifer palmyary directs the relations. >> brian deets, the deputy director, he manages that process. >> deese was huddled when we caught up with him on friday night. >> how close are you with being done with your part of the speech. >> it is all a process. we're feeling good though. >> we try to the greatest extent possible to wrap up the development process, the analytical worm before the really serious speech writing begins because you want to have the pieces in place so when you start to put a speech together you are not trying to do policy-making on the fly. >> he hands the policy pieces to cody keener. >> cody went to hawaii and they

had some time out there when their head was clear and the air was probably a little nicer, the view was definitely nicer. >> then the drafts start flying. >> and then he and cody will start exchanging drafts. cody will share it all with us. not the entire staff. >> and the president's re-writes begin arriving. >> he has a lot of late night back and forthwith the team and particularly the speech writer. >> i think monday night is when we had the first good real draft. >> there is a moment of trepidation as you wait to get the president's copy back to see how far you are from getting it done. >> he'll work on it and come back with changes and they are hand-written. he has extraordinarily neat handwriting. it is surprising. the first time i saw it i thought it was a font. but it is his handwriting. >> how many rewrites have you done so far? >> i have done zero because i don't write the speech.

the president does. >> as the big night approaches chief of staff dennis mcdonough emphasizes after all of the rewrites, the draft is up to the president. >>speaker, the president of the united states. [ cheering and applause ] >> so that was my report. the most interesting probably to me was seeing it friday night, how many people were still jamming on every aspect of it with just days to go. >> it's really cool that you did that. you don't often see it behind the scenes. it's really fun to see a draft like that with the president's scribble all over it. >> the scribble as need as it was? >> it was not a doctor's scribble, that's for sure. there's a lot of preparation, which clearly there is, especially this time around with the news constantly changing. you have spent a lot of time living in d.c. so you probably know more than most about what goes on in these things. did anything surprise you?

>> the most surprising was the office of management and budget how early they are in fall measuring out every policy whether it is talking to the president or the process through aides, and they really take that seriously for all kinds of stuff that might not land in the speech. >> what was the operating level of tension and anxiety in that room? was the stress palpable? >> the closer you get to the oval office the more there was that tension. >> everything changes. >> everyone is up and ready to go. even when you're normally in the press room as a reporter you're normally cordoned off. >> really cool stuff. thank you for bringing that to us. >> i was very happy to do it. capehart final thoughts from

washington? >> i'm just glad i'm not there. >> we're glad to have you here. we are five hours away from tonight's address. what do you want to hear from the president? we have moderating responses to this survey. craig, tell us what are the viewers saying right now. >> no speculation. folks have been weighing in all day. what matters to you most economy, national security immigration. overwhelmingly, people have been saying it's the economy. more than 3/4 of the folks. you take a look at democrats and republicans across the board. they seem to be saying the same thing. it will be very interesting to see how much of tonight's speech is devoted to the economy. more of "the cycle" right after this.

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as you have heard many times in this hour and all day, the state of the union is tonight, including our coverage over on shift starting at 8:00 p.m. on msnbc.com. while it would be easy to take the cynics' view that this is just another obama speech i couldn't disagree more. we're at a pivotal moment. a moment when the worst of the financial crisis has passed, the dust has cleared, and we can survey the landscape ahead of us. it is a moment when we're looking to the next era of

political leadership. now is exactly the time when we must wrestle with the question. how do we create an inclusive america, one where the benefits of growth are shared by the many as they used to be? the president will offer some answers to that question tonight and the way his plan is being described it sounds quite promising to me. it is called his robin hood plan. this is obama's moment referencing a french economist. indeed, i do look the president's proposals and they do shift the tax code in our country in a more equitable direction. but if this is what counts as big, it's a measure of how small our debate has come. closing an absurd loophole that allows the wealthiest among us to pass on the riches tax free. even at this higher rate money

earned by the wealthy for sitting on their assets would still get better treatment than you working hard at your job. a tax hike on big banks. and free community college, which is a direct nod to the republican argument that the problem with our economy isn't unbridled capitalism but a skills gap. something that an economist calls an absurd idea. i think everyone should have a fair shot at a quality education. let's have a little bit of perspective here. the economist that obama is being compared to, he thinks our problems are severe enough that we should look at an 80% top tax rate. closing a loophole and a tax on capital gains isn't even in the

same ballpark. we automatically shrink the size of the debate we should be having. the president's ideas are good ones and they are not crazy at all. they are squarely in the realm of policies that we have had before and what republicans have proposed in the past. truth be told they are far too timid to solve the big wealth inequality problems that we have. for those of you who care about the future let's look at tonight's state of the union as an open salvo. nope sorry, politico it is not just another speech but one that while not big enough for at least moves the debate in a direction to a fair place. alex wagner starts right now. we are just hours away from

perhaps the most ambitious speech of the obama presidency. it's tuesday, january 20th and this is "now." >> just hours away from president obama's sixth state of the union. >> the president's state of the union address. >> the speech that sets the agenda for the new year. >> he'll be outlining his agenda for the first time before a republican-led congress. >> the president has vowed to go on offense. >> he's going to make a case tonight. >> how to prove to the country that his agenda isn't going to go away. >> a lot of what he's going to lay out tonight will run into a buzz saw that is the united states congress. >> was there a moment or a meeting when the president said, screw it let's go for broke in these last two years? >> no. at least not in