bob herbert is a distinguished senior fellow with the most.m 1993 to 2011, he was an op-ed columnist for "the new york times yurko lorella praeli is with us, director of advocacy and policy at the united we dream coalition. she attended the address at the invitation of democratic lofgren ofmber zoe california. we welcome you to get reaction to the state of the union address. we will be playing excerpts of the speech. bob herbert, to begin, from each of you, let's get overall reaction. >> ihought the president had been dealt a tough hand and part because of republican obstructionism and in part of .issteps on his own i think he played that hand about as well as you could have expected last night. it was a pretty good speech, maybe a little too long. i think they are all too long. it was a pretty good speech. he highlighted a lot of things. you defended the affordable care defended the affordable care act in a way democrats have not done for a while. i give him pretty good marks on the speech. >> lorella praeli? >> good morning. i think you coul

bob herbert from demos, mr. powell from "the new york times." >>> coming up, the rachel maddow theory is an internet sensation. >> maybe it wasn't about the endorseme endorsement. maybe it was something else special about ft. lee. >> we'll get into that, next. fedex one rate. really makes my life easier. maybe a promotion is in order. good news. i got a new title. and a raise? management couldn't make that happen. [ male announcer ] introducing fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex. is your tv powered by coal? natural gas? nuclear? or renewables like solar... and wind? let's find out. this is where america's electricity comes from. a diversity of energy sources helps ensure the electricity we need is reliable. take the energy quiz. energy lives here. >>> what was the motive for the whole shut the bridge down thing? to punish the mayor of ft. lee or something else? our own rachel maddow has a theory. it's pretty intriguing. we're going to talk about it, next. this is kevin. to p

bob herbert, senior fellow. john, listen to the president this week. >> these are not statistics. these are your neighbors, your friends, your family members. it could at some point be any of us. that's why we set up a system of unemployment insurance. >> that caught our attention. is he being a little dishonest? know one's talking about getting rid of insurance. taxpayer paid for emergency aid after you exhaust your unemployment insurance. >> that is a fair distinction. how much, the point being if we are still in two economies. wall street is roaring, main street still suffering, do you have an obligation to extend that safety net? obviously, democrats say kbrep there was a hopeful. moment. the republicanen from nevada corralled some to move forward with debate on this. there may be breath left in the compassionate conservatives. >> i want to talk about marco rubio offering a new map on mobility. he's really focused on mobility for all americanss. he want to turn federal anti-poverty funding over to the united states, replace the earned income tax credit with an enhanced federal

on wednesday, utah governor bob herbert told state agencies tuesday not to recognize any same-sex marriages that took place in the two beaks when same-sex marriages were allowed. the case could end up before the supreme court. the death toll from records shattering cold across the united states has risen to at least 21. several of the victims are homeless people who froze to death. frigid temperatures are beginning to ease after the blast of arctic air envelops swaths of the midwest. northeast, even the deep south. you can go to democracynow.org to look at the connection between the deep chill and climate change. a political controversy surrounding new jersey governor chris christie has grown into a scandal after it emerged atop a deliberate leak order traffic delays to exact political revenge. newly released documents show chris christie's deputy chief of staff, bridget anne kelly, her story ordered the closure of lanes leading to the george washington bridge to punish the mayor of fort lee for declining to endorse christie's bid for reelection. in an e-mail to another christie appointee i

let me bring in our company, dafna, bob herbert, good morning. >> dafna, you have these mayors making claims on both sides, retribution and sort of payback. does he have to address all of this in the state of the state today? what does he say? >> that's a really good question. i think he definitely has to address it in some way. he has to acknowledge this scandal and what's going on. it is, you know, enveloping his administration, whether he likes it or not. he's coming out with his version of the state of the state and meanwhile we're seeing, you know, investigations with a very different version of the state of his state. >> then you have the specifics of the claim, like they closed down a dmv office. >> you know, i had wondered early on before any of the bridge stuff had occurred why so many democrats were lining up to support chris christie. it just seemed odd to me. i've been covering politics most of my adult life and never really seen one party line up for another governor the way they had here. so now i think we're beginning to find out why. >> dafna, you look at the polls, 18

bob herbert, amy lowrey, thank you very much. >>> up next, the polar vortex is pulling away.every state in the union. find out which states are warming up fastest and which ones are still struggling in the deep freeze. >>> first, white house soup of the day. just a plain old lentil. that's a good hearty soup on a cold day. we'll be right back. the day buit begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪ this is the creamy chicken corn chowder. i mean, look at it. so indulgent. did i tell you i am on the... [ both ] chicken pot pie diet! me too! [ male announcer ] so indulgent, you'll never believe they're light. 100-calorie progresso light soups. [ 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

. >> dafna linzer, bob herbert, always great to have both of you here. thanks so much. of course, msnbc will have complete coverage of tonight's state of the union address beginning at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. >>> checking the news feed this morning, bruce springsteen called him the father of american folk music, pete seager passed away last night at age 94. he was best known for songs like "this land is your land" and "turn, turn, turn," as well as for activism. seager performed at president obama's inaugural concert in 2009, just before he turned 90. >>> in order to stop violent protesters in ukraine, lawmakers today voted to repeal sweeping antiprotest laws. this came just hours after the prime minister resigned in order to encourage what he called social political compromise. it's not clear yet whether these steps will satisfy protesters, who have been in the midst of violent protests for two months, calling for constitutional reform and a political shakeup. >>> senator john mccain firing back at the arizona republican party. two days after being censured for being,

i'm also joined by bob herbert, a distinguished senior fellow at the public policy organization.us as well. the pew trust recently completed a series of studies saying that most americans never managed to climb the elusive ladder. quhi do some manage to make it while others do not? >> our research shows there are a lot of factorings at work here. one of the key drivers of mobility from the bottom is a postsecondary education. americans able to get that four-year degree are much more likely to leave the bottom than americans that do not. another key element is having a second earner in fact household. i want to be clear this is not necessarily about marriage. you can have families that are married where only one spouse is working. but more and more in this economy, families need that second source of income to really experience any kind of upward mobility. and then a final piece of the puzzle is just economic security broadly. families that had savings and assets and homeownership are more likely to leave the bottom than those who don't. >> the battle for upward mobility seem stal