. empowering gamers around the world to interact in ways they never thought possible. this cloud turns data into excitement. this is the microsoft cloud. good evening. i'm chris matthews. president obama made his appeal to the american people for the final two years of his presidency. it comes at a time when americans are feeling more optimistic about the state of the union itself than at any time since the president's been in office. tonight he told the country the worth of times are behind us. >> america, for all that we have

endures endures endured, for all the grit and hard work required to come back for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this the shadow of crisis has passed and the state of the union is strong. >> all night tonight you saw that difference with the vice president jumping up like a jumping jack every time the president spoke because he supports him and the speaker of the house sitting there like a toadstool not sitting there at all. that was way of keep track of what the partisanship was beginning on there. the president said the country has come back trfrom the brink. >> we were told our goals were misguided or too ambitious. we would crush jobs and explode deficits. instead we've seen the fastest economic growth in over a decade, our deficits cut by two-thirds, a stock market that has doubled and health care inflation at its lowest rate in

50 years. >> maybe not on the level of the new deal was the phrase, the president made his case for middle class economics and outlined a proposed new tax plan that would shift more of the burden to the rich. >> let's close the loopholes that lead to inequality by allowing the top 1% to avoid paying taxes on their accumulated wealth. we can use more money to help families pay for child care and send their kids to college. we need a tax code that helps working americans trying to get a leg up in the new economy. we can achieve that together. >> it's also case by the president for more humble foreign policy. the phrase that george bush promised up and never delivered. the president touted his new policy with cuba an outreach to iran. he called on congress to pass a youth support authorization for the war against isis.

he spent a fair amount of time calling for a renewed effort to combat climate change. the soars speech in 2004 that moved many of us who watched him. >> i want them to grow up in a country that shows the world what we still know to be true. we are still more than a collection of red states and blue states. that we are the united states of america. >> what will be one of the most talked about moments, republicans applauded the notion this is his last campaign is already over. let's watch that little back and forth. >> i have no more campaigns to run. my only agenda -- [ applause ] >> i know because i won both of them. >> that's how he did. he said i know because i won both of them.

he turned away from the sarcasm making sure it was clear it was sarcasm. ben ray from new mexico. he's chair now. responsible for getting a democratic congress elected next time. we have u.s. congressman charlie dent of pennsylvania. and eugene robinson who is staying up late with me tonight. what did you make of the president's wonderful repostthere to the republicans after they applauded the fact he ain't running anymore. >> i think as the president always does he's very in tune with everything that's being said, chris. tonight the president spoke very clearly to the american people about what we have to do to put the middle class first. he made it clear that trickle down economics does not make its way to the middle class and we need to start working on middle class economics. that should be front and center.

i think that's what the president was tried to adjust at. >> did the president's message sell until country? will they get excited about minimum wage community college being free and sick leave and parental leave? will they be selling points as you try to win back congress? >> it's important to all americans as we see the economy getting stronger, wall street doing better that the middle class is still feeling the squeeze. all the programs the president put on the table are targeted at making sure we're paying attention to what the middle class is feeling. working families understand what's happening when child care is so expensive that it's out of reach to make it easier for them to get by. we need to even the playing field and make sure middle class priorities will be at the front of the table. >> what did you make of tonight overall? did you think it will have an impact in either direction for either party? >> i thought the speech was

actually more of a political statement than a governing agenda. i think there are few areas we can work with the president on particularly trade, transportation and infrastructure. i think those are areas. i'd like to think we can move forward on that. i'm a little less optimistic on tax reform. if the@wants to talk about a child tax credit i think it has to be done in the broader complex of a more comprehensive tax reform. i thought the president said he was operating under an existing aumf and now he want a new one. if he wants an authorization of force he should come to congress and tell me us what he wants. i've not yet heard that from the president. >> gene that's the troubling question that he has the authority and he wants the authority. >> yeah you cannot reconcile those two things. they do not make sense together. congressman dent is right. the president did not lay out

for the nation what it is exactly he wants. >> he said no boots on the ground but more forces. >> does he really want a resolution that limits very specifically what he can do. i would doubt he wants that. i bet he wants something much more open ended. >> he turned to the themes. the upbeat themes he gave this boston back in 2004. the speech i said here is our first african-american president. let's look at that. >> just over a decade ago, i gave a speech in boston where i said there wasn't a liberal america or conservative america, black america or white america, but a united states of america. over the past six years the pundits have pointed out more than once that my presidency hasn't delivered on this vision. how ironic they say that our politics seems more divided than

ever. it's held up as proof not just of my own flaws of which there are many but also as proof that the vision itself is misguided, naive. there's too many people in this town who benefit from partisan partisanship and gridlock for us to ever do anything about it. i know how tempting such cynicism may be. i still think the cynics are wrong. i still believe that we're one people. i still believe that together we can do great things even when the odds are long. >> let me go to congressman. i haven't met you before but i want to ask you about that division issue. for hispanic people and anglo people and white people, these

distinctions we've lived with them. is the president right. he seemed to push the button of optimism tonight, positively. >> i'm more optimistic than ever that we truly are the united states of america. what the president outlying is what that vision is. what's concerned me all day long is the rhetoric i've heard from my republican leadership in saying that middle class tax cut s a nonstarter. what better place to find something we can work on than targeting middle class tax cuts where it's going to help them in their pockets. that's something we should unite on. it's what brings us together as a nation and it's what the middle class deserves today. >> let me go to congressman dent. you remember lehigh valley. why can't the republicans who supported highway bills and been for infrastructure, it's good money, it's good jobs.

it's great. the smell of highway building why can't this republican congress and president get it together on building stuff again instead of letting it rot? >> chris i agree we need to do a long term bill five or six years. we have to be open to revenue sources. i'll tell you that when the president said we need to do a transportation bill on the one hand but he has a hard time with the keystone pipeline infrastructure, i think he has to take that small step. >> is there a deal there? >> i think so. i think there's plenty of potential agreements. we could use the keystone pipe liep pipeline. i could marry up a few of the ideas and advance something that a lot of people in both parties could embrace. >> who takes initiative on that? how's that's happen? >> on transportation, i think it would be okay at some point to

marry up a long term service transportation bill with the keystone pipeline. maybe we don't go to $10.10 on the minimum wage but something less than that and tie that to repeal of the medical device act which is a job saving proposal. >> you sound like the kind of republican i grew up with. i mean that positively. let's watch him here. >> i served in congress with many of you. i know many of you well. there are a lot of good people on both sides of the aisle. many of you have told me that this isn't what you sign second-degreeed up for arguing past each other on cable shows, the constant fund raising. all the looking over your shoulder to how the base will react to every decision. imagine if we broke out of these

tired old patterns. imagine if we did something different. >> that's what we try to do every night around here. i'm the greatest dealmaker. i got to talk about race. >> i thought that was the weakest passage in his speech. >> what is this beef he has with cable? >> he's not the guy who goes over and hugs the guy. it was a good speech but i thought that was the weaker part of it. >> i think you and i disagree. there's a real dichotomy. i think 70% of the country really looks up to the first lady. i think there's a real acceptance and she truly is african-american. her parents go all the way back to slavery. you have this regular, ragging on the president on race. i see it. somebody wrote it the other day in new york magazine. i said all these things that certain republican on the right

do they wouldn't do for a white democrat. how do you reconcile what seems to be the acceptance maybe three quarters of the people as african-americans. you have i think both are true. >> both are true. there's something about the fact of the first black president irrespective of the individual i think, that seems to have intensified some peoples feelings about race in general. good, bad, hair on fire. >> what percent? >> who knows. >> 10 20. >> some days i look at my e-mail i think it's a high percentage. >> you get the worst. >> they're very ugly. i get ugly ugly things about the president, about first lady, about the first family. i get a lot of deliberately

unfair criticism that is not overtly racial but -- sdp >> you can tell. >> is of a tenor and a tone that i've not seen before and of a white president. >> i think a lot of these people are dying. i think younger people are so farther ahead on this thing. we're better off than our parents. i'm talking about white people i guess. it seems like there's something majestic about that first lady tonight. the way she comes out. i think there's admiration for that family from three quarters of people. i agree that the people you keep hearing from you're a magnet for this crap because you're great writer and you write positively about the progressive view of race relations and they don't like it. thank you. you know you're right. thank you for joining us. i do mean that about the valley

and your brand of republican. i grew up with it and tom ridge republican. it's not so far off. coming up, we have the results of an online survey. we'll see what americans thought of the speech tonight. it didn't take long for republicans to declare war on president obama's agenda. it's been a wild couple of hours for the opposition party as they took to spoil the president's hot hand. they tried. this is hardball, a place for politics. machine . >> if we're going to have arguments let's have arguments, but let's make them debates worthy of this body and worthy of this country.

they say after seeing a magician make his assistant disappear mr.clean came up with a product that makes dirt virtually disappear. he called it the magic eraser. it cleans like magic. even baked on dirt disappears right before your eyes. mr.clean's magic eraser. i've had a lot of hondas. we went around the country talking to people who made the switch to ford. i loved the look of the fusion... we test drove it...i was like "this is my car". all-wheel drive is amazing... i felt so secure. you can do it, emmie! ecoboost is when you can take a four cylinder and make it feel like a six cylinder... i was really surprised... i drove the fusion... and i never went back. make the switch to america's favorite brand. check out special offers on ford fusion at ford.com or see your local ford dealer. ♪ i have the worst cold with this runny nose. i better take something.

dayquill cold and flu doesn't treat your runny nose. seriously? alka-seltzer plus cold and cough fights your worst cold symptoms plus your runny nose. oh, what a relief it is.

tonight, after a breakthrough year for america, our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999.

>> well welcome back to "hardball." the president addressed the nation on economy. we have an early look at how americans received his speech. this will be fascinating. >> we have new numbers. these are fresh numbers from an msnbc survey. let me explain what the numbers represent. we say online survey. you might think this is whatever wants to log onto a site and not that scientific. this is a specific sample of people. this was done if conjunction with survey monkey. it's a site where two million people come there and take surveys every day. they weighted it for age, sex, region and all sorts of things like that. it's a little more signcientific than your standard survey.

satisfied but not enthusiastic 43%. if you add those together 71% of the people responding here said they were somewhat positive in the reaction to the speech. 21% saying their dissatisfied and not angry. 26% on the negative side there. 71% on the positive side. that's the bottom line of what we're finding in these numbers. if you look at the other stuff we asked about, is the president focused on the right thing, people said yes. he's focused on the right things. are republicans focused on the right things. the inverse. 35% saying they are and 61% say they are on the wrong things.

specifically on that tax increase on the wealthy two different ways of looking at it. is it a bad idea because the wealthy will help grow the economy? 5% 5 35% saying it's a bad idea and 63% saying it's a good idea because the wealthy can afford it. this is an issue the president ran on 2012. i think in laying this out that's something the democrats may be running on in 2016. >> going by your margin of error, let's go back to the angry figure. that's 5%. could there be there's less people that exist that are angry? >> i guess the range is negative 2 to 12. >> that's only 5% are angry. could be off by 6.8. that's good news for the president. i'm just teasing. great work tonight.

>> republicans have explode into a furry of opposition and some of it has gone off the rails. michael steele former chair of the rnc. i haven't had chance to give you a broad brush. you want to start, michael. this speech i thought he was up. >> oh yeah. >> i think being up is like in our business just communicating at night. if you're down people know that too. he wasn't tired. he had good sleep. he looks healthy. sheem he seems happy. >> he was. for this president he's feeling freed. he's lifting burdens off of his shoulders. >> is this a janice joplin kind of freedom? >> it is. it's almost coming full circle from 2008 particularly when he puts in a line i said at one point this would be a red, white and blue america. he's bringing that back.

i think he wants to move into his own space and that includes on trade issues for example, he knows that will upset democrats. okay. deal with it. this will be interesting to watch with the congress in the senate. the republicans, i think, are actually in a good position too. because now they have an opportunity to go out and lay out some. >> back to my old ronald reagan jab here. you can see the deals on the table. do something on infrastructure and do keystone. it would move things along. >> and trade. since i'm now global editorial. all the pieces are there. you're right. it's like a puzzle. they could put all these pieces together. as you're always saying you don't have to agree on each individual. >> you trade. >> you trade.

all the pieces are out there on the table. >> who's going to be the guy that calls everybody in and say let's sit down for all weekend an work out a deal. >> i'll tell you one other thing, the other reason the president was happy man is that he was able finally to say in his own mind and to the american people he had accomplished what he had been hired to do which is to bring the economy reasonable bli ly back. >> what he proposed is a lot of things that patched the tire in the sense we have recovered overall from the recession but the wages, real wages haven't increased which is why. don't worry government will help you with that. >> there's no rocking fiscal policy change. no rocking foreign policy change. there was no new dealish kind of picture. >> this is small to patch the tire. he thinks he's in a position to do that because he did the big things that he wanted to do in his mind. >> is that politics?

you and i talked about it 20 years ago, didn't it come out that after all that bill clinton did in terms of big economic growth the most popular thing he did was that leave thing he did. >> family medical leave. >> that was intensely practical and tangible. i think that's what he trying to do here. child care sick leave, paid sick leave. free community college. those are reduction of existing interest rates for student loans. all those things poll well. >> they poll well but here is problem they're not going to pass to congress. the bill to pay for them has not been clarified yet. it's not all going to come out of raising taxes on the wealthy or increasing the capital gains

tax. this is where you'll have some republicans who find that sweet spot for mitch mcconnell to go to the president and say we can put together a deal. i think you'll see the house come along and follow behind mitch more than people are thinking that boehner and the house will be pushing a lot of agenda. >> why do you think mitch will be a better dealmaker? >> i think he has a better sense of the ultimate purpose and goal. he's looking more broadly at where the party needs to be to keep the senate in two years. >> he's the bridge between the congressional republican party which is no no we don't want to do anything. he wants a president -- he wants to be the republican leader who got the president -- >> quick lightening question. which party loves the presidency more? >> republicans. >> that's what i think. don't you agree? >> yes. >> they love the executive. >> president obama is doing a

pretty good job of inhabiting the office right now and that's significant. >> the republicans really really, really want that presidency. thank you. up next president obama once again called for equal pay for women. if washington is playing catch up, hollywood is there. we're lucky enough to be joined by a star outside our usual sphere. this is "hardball." . you can find a new frontier. there's nothing stopping you and a lot helping you. technology that's with you always. this is our promise. it's never been better to wander because wherever you go, you'll find

us doing everything we can, so you can. he best chicken k? because i make the best chicken noodle soup. because i make the best chicken noodle soup. because i make the best chicken noodle soup. for every way you make chicken noodle soup, make it delicious with swanson®.

sunday dinners at my house... it's a full day for me, and i love it. but when i started having back pain my sister had to come help. i don't like asking for help. i took tylenol but i had to take six pills to get through the day. so my daughter brought over some aleve. it's just two pills, all day! and now, i'm back! aleve. two pills. all day strong,

all day long. and now introducing aleve pm for a better am.

this congress still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is getting paid for the same work as a man. it's 2015. it's time. >> that's my classic laugh. that was the president closing. if the country is still playing catch up hollywood has made some

strides. many new shows on television have featured strong independent women in key roles including the show "the affair." let's take peek. >> what if i got my own place in. >> what do you mean? >> just a studio. i could use writing space. you could stay there when you come to town. >> that sounds good. >> i want to mover out. it could be our starter apartment. >> that's really shot show. it's winning the awards. it tells the complex story of a extramarital affair. it earned the show two golden globes. ruth wilson plays alison

lockheart who is coping with loss of her son who is in a messy romance. she joins me in snork. the very respected new york times critical. i never know what he's going to do. he's giving me the look. i want to taub about this. i think movies are always about today. every time this movie about mash wasn't about korea. it was about vietnam. your shows on television are serials. they grab you and hold you. why are we in love with the serial idea where it's the good wife which i never miss and your show. >> i think it's changing the way people watch narratives and dramas these days. people have bigger tv screens. it's almost like a cinema experience at home. they can watch box sets in their

own time. >> on demand. >> they can watch it at their own convenience. i think that writers and writers are getting the chance to write novelistic kind of dramas. it's brilliant for actors writers and directors to have that chance to do that. that's why i think people are moving dramas are moving to tv and becoming more sophisticated. i think it's about how habits changed, viewing habits are changed the box sets and on demand. >> what i'm fascinated with is women characters are the most interesting by far. they're flashbacks to the strong

women pictures. are we getting ready for a woman president? i think state of affairs, african-american woman is president. " "madame secretary." >> there was a show called commander in chief with gina davis. it didn't last long. >> they didn't know how to do it then. in some ways we're getting ready for it. it's nowhere near the number of strong female characters we see on tv. >> can you switch to american

now? >> no. >> i'm looking at you and your leading man and every show i think of seems to have an australian or a british actor. >> a british actor playing lbj in selma. >> the americans are very straightforward and up front and say what they think and say it with passion and clarity. >> it makes us boring. >> the brits lie all the time. they repress. they're keeping all these emotions down. they say something else but hiding everything else. it makes them interest but it's because their lying all time. it's like that idea of we're not so honest with our emotion. >> i think you're it. i think there's something going on now. i really do. >> thank you. >> you could be getting some big awards this season.

>> thank you. >> i think you're great. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> it's great to come over. you're on the stage tonight. up next president obama's big night tonight. he's looking to go varl on the heels of tonight's address he's launching a social media blitz on you tube. you're watching "hardball." >> i served this congress with many of you. i know many of you well. there are a lot of good people here on both sides of the aisle. many of you have told me that this isn't what you signed up for. arguing past eemp other on cable

shows. the constant fund raising. looking over your shoulder to how the base will react to every decision. imagine if we broke out of these tired old patterns. imagine if we did something different. machine

i have a cold with terrible chest congestion. better take something. theraflu severe cold doesn't treat chest congestion. really? new alka-seltzer plus day powder rushes relief to your worst cold symptoms plus chest congestion. oh, what a relief it is. here we go! ♪ ah, push it. ♪ ♪ ♪ push it. ♪ ♪ p...push it real good! ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ow! ♪ ♪ oooh baby baby...baby baby. ♪ if you're salt-n-pepa, you tell people to push it. ♪ push it real good. ♪ it's what you do. ♪ ah. push it. ♪ if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance you switch to geico. it's what you do. ♪ ah. push it. ♪ i'm pushing. i'm pushing it real good!

i was not expecting to get a ford. we went around the country talking to people who made the switch to ford. it felt nicer than my bmw. good gas mileage... ecoboost makes a four cylinder engine feel like a six cylinder. my dad went and turned in his lexus and got the exact same car as me. he had to have it... i'm very happy with my escape. i don't know if i'll ever not buy a ford. make the switch to america's favorite brand. check out special offers on ford escape at ford.com or see your local ford dealer. ♪ i'm jerry bell the second. and i'm jerry bell the third. i'm like a big bear and he's my little cub. this little guy is non-stop. he's always hanging out with his friends. you've got to be prepared to sit at the edge of your seat and be ready to get up. there's no "deep couch sitting." definitely not good for my back. this is the part i really don't like right here. (doorbell) what's that?

a package! it's a swiffer wetjet. it almost feels like it's moving itself. this is kind of fun. that comes from my floor? eww! this is deep couch sitting. [jerry bell iii] deep couch sitting! . when we make rash decisions and the first response is to send in our military we neglect the broader strategy we need for a safer more prosperous role. that's what our enemies want us to do. i believe in smarter kind of american leadership. >> welcome back. president obama is using social media and the internet to reach audiences not reached in a live television address. he'll do an interview with you tube personalities this week.

we have the google searches inspired so far. we have mike paul former aid to new york city mayor rudy giuliani. a great historian, a daily beast columnist an msnbc political analyst. i'm looking at the list of topics. the google has put out what the people are looking at tonight. they're looking at the very topics the president brought up. college, i guess community college, tax, housing, employment, education, health care cuba economy, immigration and racism. it seems like people watch television with their hand doing something else. we mentioned that. some of the earlier google things wanted to know what is this. who sits behind the president. that kind of information. >> it makes me think that the

president was very broad strokey. we watched this and really in it. when he does say a single pipeline, he doesn't say the keystone pipeline. he talked about a trade with china but he doesn't say what it's call. i think that you need to be a little bit more specific with some of these folks are looking it up. >> he's sitting next to the president because he was in prison in cuban. a person writes why was alan gross in prison in cuba. these are basic questions. what is the cuban embargo? how do you travel to cuba? what's a community college, a

top question here. how much does community college cost? people want more background. >> i think the important thing about this speech, some of the lines might be remembered, his tone. churchill talked about the broad lands. uplift will be remembered. i believe what will be most remembered from this over the next 10 to 15 years is the community college part of it. this is barack obama's g.i. bill and even though it's not going to get enacted in his term he will always be credited for it. in terms of new media. the white house has done these videos every day for six years. the one that was done two weeks ago where the president was on air force one talking about free community college was the most watched video of his entire presidency. >> what was it about? >> outlineing his free community college program. there's huge interest in this.

90% of high school kids in tennessee will enroll in this tennessee community college program. it was more than double what was expected. there's huge demand for this. young americans know it's the only way they will be able to compete in the global economy. >> technical. it's not going back to photography school. >> it's not just that. community colleges are also known as places where you complete your ged first and then you go onto college work. i think that's one of the reasons when you're talking about the message that you had before, which is it's an inside the beltway, a message to the layman, to the citizens of our country. that's the answer you want. there's a lot of people who have not completed their ged. you're going to help me to complete two things in one. that's a big deal. >> nobody asked how do you pay for it? they're like this is dead on arrival. the bill passed unanimously in

1944, the g.i. bill. they understood this is an investment in the future of the country. we need to do this to have a strong nation. that's what will be interesting to see whether some of that starts to come this way. >> a kid with no money from the parents, working kid from the neighborhoods, the row houses where i grew up originally and he now o or she knows worse comes to worse, if i can get enough money to live on i can go to college. >> yeah. >> and i can finish my high school degree, many of them are saying and i have a lot of guilt and shame surrounding that that many of them have not finished. they might be older as well. they're not 18 years old going and completing by 20. they might be 19, 20, 25 some of them. they'll finish that ged and get a college degree. >> macro, we need a work force. we need trained people.

>> other than tennessee, chicago is the other pro toe type for this. they take took over the curriculum of these schools. the problem is the drop outs are off the charts. it's like 75% drop out nationally. for these schools to get the money, they have to have programs that get these kids to graduate. >> all these folks are staying with us. more on this historic night. i want to get their assessment personally. the president clearly had the wind at his back tonight. i think that jonathan had it

right. there was a tone that was more optimistic than we've seen. this is "hardball." >> everyone in this congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage i say this. if you truly believe you can work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year try it. if not, vote to give millions of the hardest working people in america a raise. machine ♪ [audible safety beeping] ♪ [audible safety beeping] ♪ the nissan rogue, with safety shield technologies. the only thing left to fear is your imagination. now save up to $1,000 when you finance the 2015 nissan rogue. nissan. innovation that excites. for a crowd this big your everyday dishes will only go so far.

literally. you had to go deep into the cupboard. embarrassingly deep. can this mismatched mess be conquered... by a little bit of dish liquid? it can if it's dawn ultra. it's more concentrated... ...just one bottle has the grease cleaning power of two bottles of this bargain brand. here's to the over-extended family gathering. dawn, it's amazing what a drop can do. they're still after me. get to the terminal across town. are all the green lights you?

no. it's called grid iq. the 4:51 is leaving at 4:51. ♪ they cut the power. it'll fix itself. power's back on. quick thinking traffic lights and self correcting power grids make the world predictable. thrillingly predictable. i've been called a control freak... i like to think of myself as more of a control... enthusiast. mmm, a perfect 177-degrees. and that's why this road warrior rents from national. i can bypass the counter and go straight to my car. and i don't have to talk to any humans, unless i want to. and i don't. and national lets me choose any car in the aisle. control. it's so, what's the word?... sexy. go national. go like a pro.

. i have no more campaigns to run. my only agenda -- [ applause ] >> i know because i won both of them. [ applause ] we're back with the hardball round table. a final question. i've got to ask you this because you're in show business here. did you see the combination of what he threw there? he did the ad lib and he does it like he put his spirit and looked away. i think that was a little cold and he comes back with that

incredible irresistible smile. there was a lot of action in terms of drama. >> there is no bigger sign of confidence than silence and reaction. when you can, you feel you might have done something wrong, you take a moment you give a smile and you take it in because you know you're winning. that's when you know you're winning. absolutely. >> jonathan you're the big picture here guy, it's fair to say. will this matter two weeks from now? >> not a huge amount. there are a couple of interesting things. it's important he's not going into the last two years of his presidency on the defensive. he's going to enjoy it and the american public wants their president to be sunny and enjoying the job.

this was the real obama who trash talks a little bit. that's what he's like in private. he's been really concerned about the original promise in boston in 2004 that we're going to get beyond red state and blue state america. this defense tonight -- >> double down. >> of what he called a better politics. he really wants to keep focused on we with do better. we can have a better politics. we can have a functional washington. that's his big message going into the last couple of days. >> the president with that is the presidents are waiting, starting tomorrow they will start pounding him, pounding him with messages of it doesn't touch the heart. it doesn't touch your pocket. there was a glow around the message tonight, in my opinion.

when he was in his campaign there was promise and hope. i don't think people are feeling the strong attachment that will last beyond the punches that will come. i feel it in my family. my job is a little bit better. i don't really have to worry about the stress around health care and what it costs and if someone's going to get hurt. those are things that are emotions and in politics -- >> last word. >> what i think is he did something that was very brave when he was elected and that is make plans that take a long time in a country that's learned to put a pie in the microwave rather than cook it bake it watch it come to fruition. now he's seeing the pie come out of oven. he can take a breath and with gas prices down he's like this

is what i was talking about. he gets to do that. he gets to make big plans and talk about community college. now the republicans punch hard why do you want to tax us? they're going to say we need share in that. >> i want to thank our round table, mike paul. when we return our coverage continues with a replay of the full state of the union address. that's coming up. you're watching msnbc, the place for politics.

nabbed. booked. locked up. case closed? you don't know "aarp." because the aarp fraud watch network means everyone can protect themselves and their families from scams and identity theft. with local alerts, tips from law enforcement and the inside scoop from former con artists. real possibilities to stay ahead of the bad guys. if you don't think beat con men at their own game, when you think aarp, then you don't know "aarp". find more surprising possibilities and get to know us at aarp.org/possibilities. shark, bli when the game is on the line... okay patrick, let's go base, shark, blitz. the nfl trusts duracell quantum to power their game day communication. abort! abort! he's keeping it! duracell quantum. lasts up to 35% longer than the competition.

major: ok fitness class! here's our new trainer ensure active heart health. crowd: yayyyy! heart: i'm going to focus on the heart. i minimize my sodium and fat... gotta keep it lean and mean. pear: uh-oh. heart: i maximize good stuff like my potassium... and phytosterols, which may help lower cholesterol. major: i'm feeling energized already. new delicious ensure active heart health supports your heart and body, so you stay active and strong. ensure. take life in. i have the flu with a runny nose. [coughs]

better take something. theraflu severe cold won't treat your runny nose. really? alka-seltzer severe cold and flu relieves your worst flu symptoms plus runny nose. [breath of relief] oh, what a relief it is. mommy! hey!

it is 9:00 on capitol hill. president obama is about to enter the house of representatives to driver his state of the union address. i'm rachel maddow with chris matthews. with the special coverage of the state of the union. for the first time president obama will be addressing a republican congress under full republican control. what the president calls on congress to do, where he challenges them to take action will signal how he intends to spend the final two years of his presidency. this is a huge night for the administration. that's for sure. i think that the president has given us a good preview of what's coming tonight. some spoiler alerts. but he will talk about income inequality tonight, and he wil