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Any new economic sanctions that Congress tries to impose against Iran during international negotiations to limit the Islamic republic’s nuclear program will be vetoed, President Barack Obama warned lawmakers on Tuesday, even as he acknowledged the ongoing talks are difficult and may not succeed. It was the sharpest part of a State of the Union speech that overall was skimpy on details for his foreign policy agenda for the year.Obama also briefly re-affirmed his promises to end the war in Afghanistan this year, pursue al-Qaida with limited strikes and support Syrian opposition groups in their bloody three-year quest to push...

Tensions within the Democratic Party were on display in the living rooms of Massachusetts, where liberal activists watched President Barack Obama's State of the Union address with skepticism. "I think he offered some good things," said party host Josh Tauber, a software engineer and Democratic activist who volunteered for both of Obama's campaigns. "I would get more excited if I believed those things would happen." Liberal leaders across the nation shared Tauber's mixed response, expressing optimism about Obama's focus on economic inequality, but also frustration with a president some think hasn't fought hard enough for liberal policies on health care,...

Bias? What media bias? In its post-SOTU First Reading today, NBC News compares President Barack Obama to the injured war hero whom Obama lauded during last night’s speech. *** “America has never come easy”: Last night’s speech also ended on an emotional — and upbeat — note when Obama recognized Army Ranger Cory Remsburg, who was almost killed in Afghanistan and continues to recuperate from a brain injury. “My fellow Americans, men and women like Cory remind us that America has never come easy,” the president said. “Our freedom, our democracy, has never been easy. Sometimes we stumble, we make...

Sarah Palin was very busy last night. Too busy and important to watch the State of the Union, but she did catch it on her “truck radio” and she’s very concerned about that man in the White House. He’s arrogant and dangerously full of hubris. He dared to act like a President and use presidential powers. Something must be done! She warned her flock on Facebook today, “We the People” don’t have to be “We the Sheeple” and just get shepherded towards a fundamental transformation that’s against America’s will.” To remedy this horrible, big government intrusion, she says we can...

Last night was the State of the Union and like most sensible people, I didn’t watch it. It could be that I have a respect for oratory. Lincoln said, in two hundred and seventy-two words and a couple of minutes, more at Gettysburg than has been said by this President in his combined hours in the House Chambers. Also, the purpose of the speech escapes me. In our overly technological age, I know what the President’s agenda is almost as soon as he sets it. I don’t need a speech full of bureaucratic boilerplate to tell me what I already...

“So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do.” – Obama, State of the Union 2014 That’s a polite way to say he doesn’t have the leadership skills to unite Congress to get anything done, so he’s going to use a loose interpretation of the Constitution to attempt to get his way and he’ll mask that statement with a rational sounding emotional appeal to American families.

The central word in President Obama’s State of the Union address wasn’t equality or opportunity. It was work. People will tell you this was a boring speech. Don’t believe them. It was a speech with a sharp edge. It distinguished the free market, represented by Republicans, from the work ethic, represented by Democrats. If that’s the debate in 2014, Democrats stand a good chance of winning. Here’s the basic idea. Many people who vote Republican don’t really believe in the free market. What they believe in is the work ethic. These two things aren’t identical. Sometimes the free market betrays...

A lot of political pundits make a lot of money talking to an every-shrinking audience. Most Americans these days simply can’t stand politics, and after watching Tuesday’s State of the Union speech and the Republican response, it’s easy to understand why. President Obama’s speech was empty calories, a greatest hits record from a local band that never had a hit. I had to check my DVR to make sure I hadn’t accidentally replayed a previous year’s speech. I hadn’t, but I still want to know where to go to get those two hours of my life back. The buzz leading...

Chicago Grassroots React to State of the Union--Obama, The Big LET DOWN! Published on Jan 29, 2014 This video is about Chicago Black Grassroots Response to SOTU

If you missed the State of the Union last night (which is a bit misleading, it was a snoozefest, so there was nothing to miss) here's the big takeaway... target="_blank">iOwnTheWorld)You could say the speech was really a self-coronation for the rest of us (we conservatives already noticed he already did it for himself back in '09), so I gathered up some of the best/my favorite "King Obama" memes on the internet starting with this one...

Tuesday night live on C-SPAN, President Obama outlines his agenda for the coming year when he delivers his fifth State of the Union Address before a Joint Session of Congress. Leading up to the President's speech, C-SPAN sets the scene from the White House and Capitol Hill with perspectives from Former Speechwriter to President Obama Jon Lovett, Senate Historian Don Ritchie, and Gallup Editor in Chief Frank Newport. Following the State of the Union, House Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) delivers the Republican response. McMorris Rodgers is in her fifth term representing Washington’s Fifth District. C-SPAN's live coverage...

A State of the Union address is often difficult to fact-check, no matter who is president. The speech is a product of many hands and is carefully vetted, so major errors of fact are relatively rare. But State of the Union addresses often are very political speeches, an argument for the president’s policies, so context is sometimes missing. Here is a guide through some of President Obama’s more fact-challenged claims, in the order in which he made them. At the end, we also examine one fishy fact in the Republican response. As is our practice with live events, we do...

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder denied knowing that a top Democratic donor is leading the internal investigation into the IRS targeting of conservative groups. “No, I don’t know anything about the political activities of any of the people who are involved in this investigation,” he said when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) questioned him during a Justice Department oversight hearing. “I must tell you I find it astonishing that the Department of Justice appointed a major Obama donor to head this investigation, so the first question I want to ask is did you know that...

In his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night, President Barack Obama is expected to take sharp aim at wealth inequality. He'll propose a hike in the minimum wage, extended unemployment benefits, and more funding for education and skills improvement. He is also likely to contribute to several persistent myths about the increasing gap between the rich and everyone else. There is no question that income inequality in America is high compared with other countries as well as with the three decades in the U.S. after World War II. And a consensus is growing among business leaders, politicians and...

Attorney General Eric Holder couldn't explain the constitutional basis for executive orders such as President Obama's delay of the employer mandate because he hasn't read the legal analysis -- or at least, hasn't seen it in a long time. "I'll be honest with you, I have not seen -- I don't remember looking at or having seen the analysis in some time, so I'm not sure where along the spectrum that would come," Holder replied when Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, asked him to explain the nature of Obama's constitutional power to delay the mandate. Lee had based his question on...

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address once again highlighted to the nation the political dichotomy that the Affordable Care Act has created in Kentucky. One minute Obama was giving a mid-address shout-out to Gov. Steve Beshear over his implementation of the health care law. And the next minute, Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell was issuing a critical three-paragraph response to Obama’s speech focusing on the Obamacare section particularly. “Obamacare is wreaking havoc with Kentucky’s economy and for the nation’s economy and unfortunately the president’s doubled down on that,” McConnell said in his statement. “So, it’s discouraging to see...

Show this article to anyone that believes that the economy has actually improved under Barack Obama. On Tuesday evening, Barack Obama once again attempted to convince all of us that things have gotten better while he has been in the White House. He quoted a few figures, used some flowery language and made a whole bunch of new promises. And even though he has failed to follow through on his promises time after time, millions upon millions of Americans continue to believe him. In fact, you can find a list of 82 unfulfilled promises from his previous State of the...

As President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address provokes the standard exchange of press releases and talking points, it’s worth remembering that the partisan foreign policy debate is almost always shallow. The real gap is not between Democratic and Republican leaders but between the political class and the broader public. Consider the Pew Research Center poll late last year that demonstrated that the U.S. public is less interested than the U.S. foreign policy elite in trying to manage foreign affairs. This set off a predictable debate about whether the public was becoming isolationist.But hardly anyone pointed out that the results were nothing new: The American public,...

The executive order stuff was good, but Obama didn't go at the GOP in the way he should have. Was that really only the sixth Obama State of the Union address? Because somehow after watching this one, I felt I’d seen at least eight or nine and made the same complaint every time. It was...fine. There were moments, a few moments, where it was better than fine. The Obamacare section came across to me as the most spirited, the one part where he dropped the guarded formality that characterizes his approach to SOTU addresses and talked a little bit, just...

**SNIP** Total viewership for the address, which aired live from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. PST on 13 networks and tape delayed on Univision, was down slightly from last year's. The 2013 State of the Union was watched by about 33.5 million people. The speech was covered live by CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, Azteca, Fox Business, Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Al Jazeera America, Galavision and Mun2. Among cable outlets, the Fox News Channel beat its rivals, as usual, with 4.7 million viewers.