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President Obama is set to give his third State of the Union address Tuesday night before a captive Congress and nation.
In an election year, this is his chance to "dominate the entire political discourse for an entire moment," says Yahoo!'s Washington Bureau Chief David Chalian. "Remember the State of the Union of the re-election year for a president is always sort of the big campaign speech of the year for them…. [Obama] has a chance to use this speech to sort of crowd out all the other noise that has been out there about him coming from the Republicans."
For a President with average approval ratings below 50% for the majority of his term, this speech is a very big moment for him. Obama's approval ratings for his third year in office averaged 44%, down from 47% his second year and much lower than his first year which averaged a 57% average approval rating, according to Gallup.
Obama on Saturday gave the country a glimpse of what he is likely to focus his speech on Tuesday night and in turn set the message for his bid to recapture his chief executive position. "We can go in two directions," he said in a video on his re-election campaign's website. "One is towards less opportunity and less fairness, or we can fight for where I think we need to go: building and economy that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few."
Obama's populist tone is not something new. At a speech last month in Osawatomie, Kan., Obama highlighted the damaging effects of growing inequality in this country and vowed to fight for America's disappearing middle class. Chalian commented then that this would be "Obama's re-election campaign message." (See: Down in the Polls, Obama Seeks to Ride Occupy Movement's "Populist Wave")
"I don't think he'll get up there [tonight] and do 'we are the 99% versus the 1%,'" Chalian tells The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task in the accompanying clip. "But I do think you are going to hear a lot about fairness that has seemed to have gone away for the great swath of middle class America."
Obama's message to rebuild the middle class will be juxtaposed with the other big headline from the Republican campaign trail on Tuesday: Mitt Romney has finally released his tax returns. As expected, Romney is very wealthy (like many politicians typically are). The tax statements released by his campaign show the presidential candidate paid $6.2 million to Uncle Sam on $46.6 million of income earned in 2010 and 2011.
Obama on the Issues
As is typical for presidents, in his SOTU speech Obama will lay out a laundry list of issues he hopes Congress can take up from now until November.
To tackle the "the negative impact of inequality in this country" Chalian predicts Obama will call for Congress to extend the payroll tax cut and raise taxes on the rich. (See: Steve Forbes Hates Obama's "Millionaire's Tax"—And Not Just Because It Hammers Millionaires)
"We will also hear about foreign policy," says Chalian. "He wants to hammer home what he sees as one of his greatest calling cards as commander in chief: the killing of Osama Bin Laden and al Qaeda on the run."
What do you hope President Obama will address tonight? Tell us in the comments below or on our Facebook page.
More from The Daily Ticker on the "Occupy" movement and income inequality:
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Occupy Wall Street Gains Traction: "The Message is Definitely Getting Out
Randall Lane: Wall St. Protestors Don't Hate Success, They Hate Big Rewards for Failure
Taken to Task: Occupy Wall Streets Nattering Nabobs of Negativity
Forget Wall Street, Protesters Should "Occupy Congress," Says Mauldin
Steven Rattner Feels the Pain of Occupy Wall Street - On Both Sides
Occupy Wall Street: The Youth Perspective
Trump: Occupy Wall Street Indicates "There Is Something Wrong With This Country"
Occupy Wall Street Shows People Want Democracy, Not Corporatocracy: Jeffrey Sachs
The Top 5 Facts About America's Richest 1%
STEVE FORBES: The Wall Street Protesters Should Occupy Congress Instead
'Occupy' Protests Head to Capitol Hill: U.S. Patent Office Should Also Be Target, Author Says
'Invasion of the Occtupy': Here's Why Time's Person of the Year Is Off Base
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