routine business, passed through the senate. neither party has been blameless in these tactics. now both parties should put an end to it. for starters, i asked the senate to pass a simple rule that all judicial and public service nominations receive a simple up or down vote within 90 days. [ applause ] the executive branch also needs to change. too often it's inefficient, outdated, and remote. that's why i've asked this congress to grant me the authority to consolidate the federal bureaucracy so that our government is leaner, quicker, and more responsive to the needs of the american people. finally, none of this can happen unless we also lower the temperature in this town. we need to end the notion that the two parties must be locked in a perpetual campaign of mutual destruction, that politics is about clinging to rigid ideaologisologies instead building consensus around common sense ideas. i'm a democrat, but i believe what republican abraham lincoln believed -- the government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves and no more. that's why my education reform offers more control for states. that's why we're getting rid of regulations that don't work. that's why our health care law relies on a reformed private market, not a public health care program. and yet even my republican friends who complain the most about federal spending have financed roads and clean energy projects and federal offices for the folks back home. the point is we should all want a smarter, more effective government. and while we may not be able to bridge our biggest philosophical differences this year, we can make real progress. with or without this congress, i will keep taking actions that help the economy grow, but i can do a whole lot more with your help because, when we act together, there's nothing the united states of america can't achieve. that's the lesson we've learned from our actions abroad over the last few years. ending the iraq war has allowed us to strike decisive blows against our enemies, from pakistan to yemen, the al qaeda operatives who remain are scrambling, knowing that they can't escape the reach of the united states of america. from this position of strength, we begin to wind down the war in afghanistan. 10,000 of our troops have come home. 23,000 more will leave by the end of this summer. this transition to afghan lead will continue, and we will build an enduring partnership with afghanistan so that it is never again a source of attacks against america. as the tide of war recedes, the wave of change has washed across the middle east and north africa from tunis to cairo, from sanaa to tripoli. a year ago gadhafi was one of the world's longest serving dictators, a murderer with american blood on his hands. today he is gone, and in syria i have no doubt the assad regime will soon discover that the forces of change cannot be reversed. as human dignity cannot be denied. it remains uncertain. we have a huge stake in the outcome. while it's ultimately up to the people of the region to decide their fate, we will advocate those values that have served our country so well. we will stand against violence and intimidation. we will stand for the rights and dignity of all human beings, men and women, christians, muslims, and jews. we will support policies that lead to strong and stable democracies and open markets because tyranny is no match for liberty. we will safeguard america's own security against those who threaten our citizens, our friends, and our interests. look at iran. through the power of our diplomacy, a world that was once divided about how to deal with iran's nuclear program now stands as one. the regime is more isolated than ever before. its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions. as long as they shirk their responsibilities, this pressure will not relent. let there be no doubt, america is determined to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and i will take no options off the table to achieve that goal. but a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible and far better, and if iran changes course and meets its obligations, it can rejoin the community of nations. the renewal of american leadership can be felt across the globe. our oldest alliances in europe and asia are stronger than ever. our ties to the americas are deep deeper. our ironclad commitment, and i mean ironclad to israel security, has meant the closest cooperation between our two countries in history. we made it clear that america is a pacific power, and a new beginning in burma has left a new hope. from the coalitions we've built to secure nuclear materials to the missions we've led against hunger and disease from the blows we've dealt our enemies to the enduring power of our moral example, america is back. anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that america is in decline or that our influence has waned doesn't know what they're talking about. that's not the message we get from leaders around the world who are eager to work with us. that's not how people feel from tokyo to berlin, from capetown tori yoe, where opinions of america are higher than they've been in years. yes, the world is changing. no, we can't control every event. but america remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs, and as long as i'm president, i intend to keep it that way. that's why working with our military leaders, i've ensured a new defense strategy that ensures we maintain the finest military in the world while saving $500 billion in our budget. to stay one step ahead of our adversaries. i've already sent this congress legislation that will secure our country from the growing dangers of cyber threats. above all, our freedom endures because the men and women in uniform who defend it. [ applause ] as they come home, we must serve them as well as they've served us. that includes giving them the care and the benefits they have earned, which is why we've increased annual va spending every year i've been president. and it means investing our veterans in the work of our nation. with the bipartisan support of this congress, we're providing tax credits to companies that hire vets. michelle and joe biden have worked with american businesses to secure a pledge of 135,000 jobs for veterans and their families. and tonight i'm proposing a veterans jobs corps that will help our communities hire veterans as cops and firefighters so that america is as strong as those who defend it. which brings me back to where i began. those of us who have been sent here to serve can learn a thing from the service of our troops. when you put on the uniform, it doesn't matter if you're black or white, asian, latino, native american, conservative, liberal, rich, poor, gay, straight. when you're marching into battle, you look out for the person next to you, or the mission fails. when you're in the thick of the fight, you rise or fall as one unit, serving one nation, leaving no one behind. one of my proudest possessions is the flag the s.e.a.l. team took with them on the mission to get bin laden. on it are each of their names. some may be democrats. some may be republicans. but that doesn't matter. just like it didn't matter that day in the situation room, when i sat next to bob gates, a man who was george bush's defense secretary, and hillary clinton, a woman who ran against me for president. all that mattered that day was the mission. no one thought about politics. no one thought about themselves. one of the young men involved in the raid later told me that he didn't deserve credit for the mission. it only succeeded, he said, because every single member of that unit did their job. the pilot who landed the helicopter that spun out of control, the translator who kept others from entering the compound, the troops who separated the women and children from the fight, the s.e.a.l.s who charged up the stairs. more than that, the mission only succeeded because every member of that unit trusted each other because you can't charge up those stairs into darkness and danger unless you know that there's somebody behind you watching your back. each time i look at that flag, i'm reminded our destiny is stitched together like those 50 stars and those 13 stripes. no one built this country on their own. this nation is great because we built it together. this nation is great because we worked as a team. this nation is great because we get each other's backs. if we hold fast to this truth in this moment of trial, there is no challenge too great, no mission too hard. as long as we are joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, and our future is hopeful, and the state of our union will always be strong. thank you. god bless you. and god bless the united states of america. [ applause ] >> the president of the united states speaking to a joint session of congress, speaking for well over an hour on a wide range of issues, mostly domestic issues, mostly issues involving jobs, jobs, and jobs. there's gabby giffords, the congresswoman from arizona, who was injured almost exactly a year ago, badly injured in a gun attack. the president going down and receiving some members of his cabinet, members of the joint chiefs of staff, leaders of congress right now. he'll be walking out of the chamber. i want to go around and get some initial thoughts from all of our correspondents and analysts. gloria borger, what do you think? >> i thought what the president gave us tonight was a laundry list of what he wants to do, that he thinks government can actually help with in terms of energy, education, manufacturing, and most important, what he did was he laid down a marker about tax reform, and he said that, if you make more than $1 million a year, wolf, you should not pay less than 30% in taxes. that stands in stark contrast to the news we heard about mitt romney and his great wealth and his 14% tax rate. laid down the marker. >> he obviously didn't mention mitt romney by name or anything, but that was obviously a point. john king, what do you think? >> no question the american people are going to have a very, very clear contrast this november on so many issues. the president defended his plan on trying to raise taxes on the rich. he defended more government spending to help the economy, keep teachers on payrolls, spend on infrastructure. he defended his health care law and defended the new financial regulations, the dodd-frank bill passed after the big meltdown of 2007/2008, saying he would not go back repeatedly, would not go back on policy. and he said on foreign policy america is back. he rebutted, anyone who says otherwise don't know what i'm talking about. look at the republican candidates running for president, you will hear just the opposite. the american people got a sense tonight of the very clear contrast they will have to decide between now and november. >> he definitely was referring to the republican presidential candidates when he said that anyone who says our influence has waned, they don't know what they're talking about. jessica yellin is over at the white house. i would say a pretty defiant president of the united states, jessica. >> defiant, and you heard him try to inoculate himself, wolf, against some of the attacks republicans will launch against him during the course of this campaign about the collapse of the housing market, about over this keystone xl pipeline that he didn't support, and over some of the job losses. he proposed a new housing program. he talked about the natural gas industry that he's propping up or that he plans to expand. and he emphasized that the actual oil industry, that it's expanded under him, which is something that i think you'll hear about when he's hitting the campaign trail. and then he emphasized the auto industry and how he has helped bolster that, a big, big message you'll hear him push in michigan. and then this theme about congress and emphasizing the ethics theme, something that he seemed to lecture congress on a bit there. it was a subtle way to sort of distance himself from congress without actually taking them to task while he's standing right in front of them tonight, wolf. >> dana bash inside the chamber as we see the president getting ready to leave. >> that's right. he's doing some gripping and grinning before he heads out. i just want to say this morning that john boehner told a few of us that he and most republicans and the president and most democrats are from different planets, and you definitely saw that tonight, just even in the dynamics of this room, the house chamber, the president making clear that his solution, for the most part, is to invest public money. every time he said that, you saw republicans basically sitting on their hands, stone cold, no applause at all. one thing i definitely want to point out, though, there was a very interesting dynamic when you're talking about bipartisanship, and that has to do with gabby giffords. she was sitting next to jeff lake, a republican congressman from her home state of arizona, every time she wanted to get up to demonstrate applause or to stand up with her fellow democrats, he helped her up. so many, many times, he was probably the only republican standing in the room because he was helping his fellow democrat stand up. ironically, if gabby giffords had not been shot, she might have been running for the u.s. senate against jeff flake. it was certainly a moment to watch over and over again as he helped her stand up. >> very emotional moment for all of us, everyone watching. david gergen, you served for four presidents, what do you think? what kind of grade would you give the president for this state of the union address? >> it was a politically shrewd speech, wolf, in the sense i think it will help mobilize the democrats, it will win over some independents. he successfully reframed the conversation after the republican debates. he had a very different take, a very different agenda has been suggested. far more government intervention to solve problems, far more spending. he moved away from talking about deficits that occupied our time so much. republicans are going to have, as john king said, there's a huge sharp contrast. i did think that, as on many occasions, if the speech had been 30% shorter, it would have been 30% more powerful. but bill clinton gave long state of the union addresses. they were very, very popular. we'll have to see. i may be wrong. >> we'll see. we're waiting the republican response from mitch daniels of indiana. you helped write several state of the union addresses. did this president need an editor to cut it down a little bit today? >> i'm weird this way. i loved it. particularly that conclusion, wolf. my goodness, that was worth staying for. it was really powerful. the whole tone was much more populist than this president has been, the idea that he relishes the idea of stepping up and being campaigner in chief. the thing that struck me, both in the beginning and the powerful conclusion talking about s.e.a.l. team six, was now how authentically and comfortably he holds the role as commander in chief. you see presidents when the troops salute him, and they don't know what to do. no longer. the president is very comfortable being commander in chief. politically, it was a great speech, but as a citizen, i loved seeing my commander in chief being that powerful. >> ari fleischer, you worked for president george w. bush, you served in congress, earlier you worked in congress. what did you think of that speech? >> wolf, there was hardly anything in the speech i liked. let me start with the one thing that i really liked and liked a lot. that was i salute the president, the courageous decision to authorize the mission to get bin laden. president obama deserves the credit for that, and he got it tonight. but the rest of it, it was his whole emphasis, his whole reason for being in government is to spend other people's money. to take those who have money and redistribute it to others who he feels should have the money instead. this is everything he seeks to do in the presidency. the poddy language, the motion, very little to nothing there on reducing the debt, very little to nothing on saving social security or on medicare, or as we're about to hear from mitch daniels on what mitch has called the red menace of debt. really just passing mentions. it wasn't the emphasis on his speech tonight. you get the sense what he really wants to talk about is how to spend more of other people's money on that program, on this program, because the federal government, through the creation of entitlements or more spending programs, knows how to do things better than everybody else. that's what i heard tonight. >> roland, a lot of those elements appealed to the democratic base. you saw them standing up and applauding enthusiastically. >> but it appeals to the american people. what the president basically said is congress, get your butt to work. paul is right. the close there was absolutely strong. any preacher would love to have that kind of close when he said it's the mission that matters. i'll tell you, ari, if you're out there, republican or democrat, and you're trying to keep your home, you like what the president had to say. if you're a republican or a democrat and you want your kids in college and you want that tax credit, you have no problem with what the president had to say. so i think -- this is not a question of, well, let's focus on the debt or whatever. this is a president saying, i'm speaking to the american people, and, congress, it's time for you to stop playing games and be like our military. be of one nation, one accord, let's move together. >> hold on, ari. i want to bring candy in for a second. a lot of the themes the president is going to be delivering the next many months leading up to november, we heard today. >> we did. this is the blueprint. you will hear bits and pieces of it as he moves forward. as a matter of fact, as he starts tomorrow, he's got a couple three days of campaigning or going out and talking to the american public, however you'd like to look at it. and you will hear these themes again, energy and education, moving forward for fairness. i thought the speech itself, there were certainly some things intended -- and jessica spoke of this -- intended to draw the sting from republicans. i thought one of the more interesting lines in it was about it's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom, no bailouts, no cop-outs. that addresses the fairness issue that republicans say is really about envy. i agree with paul and roland, i thought it was entirely interesting that he wrapped the entire economic speech at both ends beginning with the iraq war is over and ending with, oh, by the way, osama bin laden is dead. the truth is this president gets higher marks for his handling of foreign policy now than he does for his handling of the economy. i thought that was a very astute political move of him. >> ari fleischer, you wanted to make another point. >> roland's point about how the public will receive the speech, in 2008, the public loved barack obama's speeches. in 2009, they really liked them. in 2010, they liked them. in 2011, they didn't like them. now in 2012 the people have heard so much of this before, that the economy is bad, debt sky high, spending out of control, and unemployment is terrible. this is the big problem barack obama has in 2012. it goes beyond the beauty of words tonight and the fact of what he's done hasn't worked, and, in fact, it's aggravated a lot of the problems he has. >> wolf, can i please make a comment here? this is very simple of the i wasn't speaking about the speech. i speak about policy. i grew up in houston. it's an oil and gas city, oil and gas state. if you're a parent watching right now. you heard the president talk about policy talking about kids in school, a policy when it comes to keeping the home from being foreclosed. that's not a speech, that's policy. >> we're about to get the republican response. mitch daniels is the governor of indiana. he's going to be delivering the republican response. it's always much more difficult to deliver an effective response because it's usually not before an audience. there won't be any applause. let's listen. >> greetings from the home of super bowl xlvi. the status of loyal opposition imposes on those out of power some serious responsibilities to show respect for the presidency and its occupant, to express agreement where it exists. republicans tonight salute our president, for instance, for his aggressive pursuit of the murderers of 9/11 and for bravely backing long overdue changes in public education. i personally would add to that list admiration for the strong family commitment that he and the first lady have displayed to a nation sorely needing such examples. on these evenings, presidents naturally seek to find the sunny side of our national condition, but when president obama claims that the state of our union is anything but grave, he must know in his heart that this is not true. the president did not cause the economic and fiscal crises that continue in america tonight, but he was elected on a promise to fix them. the policies over the last three years have made things anything but worse. nearly half of all persons under the age of 30 did not go to work today. in three short years, an unprecedented explosion of spending with borrowed money has added trillions to an already unaffordable national debt, and yet the president has put us on a course to make it radically worse in the years ahead. the federal government now spends one of every four dollars in the american economy. it borrows one of every three dollars it spends. no nation or enat this titity, small, public or private, can survive with a debt as huge as ours. the president's trickle down government has held back rather than spur economic recovery. he seems to sincerely believe we can build a middle class out of governmentjobs paid for with borrowed dollars. in fact, it works the other way. a government as big and bossy as this one is maintained on the backs of the middle class and those who hope to join it. those punish most by the wrong turns of the last three years are those unemployed or underemployed tonight and those so discouraged they've abandoned the search for work all to go. and no one's been more tragically harmed than the young people of this country. the first generation in memory to face a future less promising than their parents did. as republicans our first concern is for those waiting tonight to resume or begin the climb up life's ladder. we must always be a nation of haves and soon to haves. and our economic stagnation and indebtedness, we're only a short distance behind greece, spain, and other european countries facing economic catastrophe. but ours is a fortunate land. because the world uses our dollar for trade, we have a short grace period to deal with our dangers. but time is running out if we're to avoid the fate of europe and those once great nations of history that fell from the position of world leadership. so 2012 is a year of true opportuni opportunity, maybe our last, to restore an america of hope and upward mobility and greater equality. the challenges aren't matters of ideology or party presence. the problems are simply mathematical, and the answers are purely practical. an opposition that would earn its way back to leadership must offer not just criticism of failures that anyone can see, but a positive and credible plan to make life better, particularly for those aspiring to make a better life for themselves. republicans accept this duty gratefully. it roots back to an america of promise and to a solvent america that can pay its bills and protect its vulnerable start in the same place. the only way up for those suffering tonight and the only way out into the debt end of debt to which we've driven is a private economy that begins to grow and create jobs, real jobs, at a much faster rate than today. contrary to the president's constant disparagement of people in business, it's the noblest of pursuits. the late steve jobs, what a fitting name he had, created more of them than all those stimulus dollars the president borrowed in blue. out here in indiana, when a business person asks me what he can do for our state, i say, first, make money. be successful. if you make a profit, you'll have something left to hire someone else and some to donate to the good causes we love. the extremism that stifles the development of home grown energy or can sells a perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands or jacks up con suler utility bills for no improvement in either human health or world temperature is a pro-poverty policy. it must be replaced by a passionate pro growth approach that breaks all ties and calls all close ones in favor of private sector jobs that restore opportunity for all and generate the public revenues to pay our bills. that means a dramatically simpler tax system of fewer loopholes and lower rates, a pause in the mindless piling on of expensive new regulations that devour dollars that otherwise could be used to hire somebody. it means maximizing on the new domestic energy technologies that are the best break our economy's gotten in years. there's a second item on our national must do list. we must unite to hit the safety net. medicare and social security have served us well, and that must continue. after half and three-quarters of a century respectively, it's not surprising they need some repairs. we can preserve them unchanged and untouched for those in or near retirement, but we must fashion a new affordable safety net so future americans are protected too. decades ago, for instance, we could afford to send millionaires pension checks and pay medical bills for even the wealthiest among us. now we can't. so the dollars we have should be devoted to those who need them most. the mortal enemies of social security and medicare are those who, in contempt of the plain arithmetic, continue to mislead americans that we should change nothing. listening to them much longer will mean that these proud programs implode and take the american economy with them. it will mean that coming generations are denied the jobs they need in their youth and the protection they deserve in their later years. it's absolute ly so that everyoe should contribute to our national recovery, including the most affluent among us. there are smart ways and dumb ways to do this. the dumb way is to raise rates in a broken, grossly complex tax system, choking off growth without bringing in the revenues we need to meet our debts. the better course is to stop sending the wealthy benefits they do not need and stop providing them so many tax preferences that distort our economy and do little or nothing to foster growth. it's not fair, and it's not true for the president to attack republicans in congress as obstacles on these questions. they and they alone have passed bills to reduce borrowing, reform entitlements, and encourage new job creation only to be shot down time and time again by the president and his democratic senate allies. this year it falls to republicans to level with our fellow citizens about this reality. if we fail to act to grow the private sector and save the safety net, nothing else will matter much. but to make such action happen, we also must work in ways republicans have not always practiced, to bring americans together. no feature of the obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some americans by castigating others. we americans are all in the same boat. if we drift, quarrelling and paralyzed over a niagara of debt, we will all suffer regardless of income, race, gender, or other category. if we fail to shift to a pro jobs, pro growth economic policy, there will never be enough public revenue to pay for our safety net, national security, or whatever size government we decide to have. as a loyal opposition who put patriotism and national success ahead of party or ideology or any self-interest, we say that anyone who will join us in the cause of growth and insolvency is our ally and our friend. we will speak the language of unity. let us build our finances and safety net and build the stairway upward. any other agreements we have can wait. the most troubling contention in our national life these days isn't about economics or policy at all. it's about us. as a free people. in two alarming ways, that contention is that we americans just can't cut it anymore. in word and deed, the president and his allies tell us that we just cannot handle ourselves in this complex perilous world without their benevolent protection. left to ourselves, we might pick the wrong health insurance, the wrong mortgage, the wrong school for our kids. unless they stop us, we might pick the wrong light bulb. a second view, which i admit republicans all seem to hold, is that we americans are all up to the job of self-government. we can't do the simple math that approves the unaffordability of today's safety net programs and all the government we no longer have. we fall for the con job that says we can just plow ahead and someone else will pick up the tab. we allow ourselves to be pitted one against the other blaming our neighbor for troubles, worldwide trends, or our own government has caused. 2012 must be the year we prove the doubters wrong, the year we strike out boldly, not merely to avert national bankruptcy, but to say to a new generation that america is still the world's premiere land of opportunity. republicans will speak for those who believe in the dignity and capacity of the individual citizen, who believe that government is meant to serve the people rather than supervise them, who trust americans enough to tell them the plain truth about the fix we're in and to lay before them a specific, credible program of change big enough to meet the emergency we're fatesing. we will advance our positive suggestions with confidence because we know that americans are still a people born to liberty. there is nothing wrong with the state of our union that the american people addressed as free born, mature citizens, cannot set right. republicans in 2012 welcome all our countrymen to a program of renewal that rebuilds the dream for all and makes our city on a hill shine once again. thanks for listening. good night. >> so we've now heard two aspects of the state of the union, one from the president of the united states, a very different one from mitch daniels, the republican governor of indiana. we're going to continue our coverage right now with anderson cooper 360. anderson? >> if you're just joining us on this, you've been watching the president's state of the union address. senior presidential adviser david plouffe joins us shortly, so does republican senator jim demint. president obama in his third annual address to congress laying out his political agenda and his political road map for his campaign of 2012. he outlined steps that he's taking that don't need legislation, don't need congress, the state of the union is getting stronger. indiana governor mitch daniels just moments ago giving the republican response. we'll show you exclusively how a panel of undecided voters, democrats, independents, and republicans, reacted to what they heard in realtime with dial testing. we are live to the midnight hour. so is our panel, chief political correspondent and state of the union, candy crowley, david gergen, chief national correspondent, john king, chief political analyst gloria borger, political analyst roland martin, and former white house press secretary ari fleischer. the gang's all here. quickly, candy crowley, any surprises tonight? >> i don't think any surprises. it was a solid speech. the idea of book end can it with the two foreign policy achievements, the end of the war in iraq and the death of osama bin laden, made it a very sort of solid speech, a reminder to voters, hey, by the way, here's the two things i did. as i mentioned before, here's a president who xwets higher marks right now for his foreign policy than he does for the economy. >> it was a populist speech, david gergen, but was it possible? many states require that students have to stay in high school until 18? >> it's a nice call but no, much of this will not happen. i think this is far more designed to be an agenda for his second term. take it to the public, fight it out, take it to the debates in october. i agree with candy. i did not think there were any surprises there. i did think it was politically deft, from his standpoint, and that is, i think he showed democrats that he's willing to fight, that he's got some fresh ideas. i think he was deft in the way he shifted the emphasis away from deficits and away from jobs onto things like energy and skills and manufacturing. he's trying to shake this up and also keep that focus on fairness. i must also tell you, i think mitch daniels gave one of the best rebuttals i've ever heard. you can understand why so many leading conservatives really wanted mitch daniels in this race, a sensible voice and principled conservative, sensible voice, and didn't engage in a lot of this hyper rhetoric we've been hearing in these debates. >> ari fleischer, did you agree with mitch daniels? >> i'm neutral in this republican presidential race, but i'm a mitch daniels and/or paul ryan guy. i think if one of them was in, you'd see more energy on the republican side and more focus on what i think are the core issues the country faces, the economic issues, and you'd see it in a friendly, inclusive way as well. that was the point i was making about the things governor daniels emphasized tonight, very different from the issues that president obama focused on tonight. a different emotional attachment on those issues. one really sees staving off this debt as the biggest issue we face. for example, let's just yield for a second and raise the bush tax rates on the wealthy. that gets you $700 billion over ten years, and we have $25 trillion of debt over the same period of time. it's a pittance, but to president obama, he seems to think it's the solution. we're in so much debt we can't start to fathom. taxes don't go far enough. it's a spending problem. >> you say keeping them honest. i've got to keep ari honest. it's a little hard to hear mitch daniels talk about the deficit when he was the budget director under president bush, when it was a surplus turned into a deficit or talk about the tax cuts that contributed to our deficit. let's not be dishonest about that. here's one thing when you talk about the response. when mitch daniels talked about a pro poverty plan, if you will, from the president. that was also striking there, the first time we heard poverty come up tonight from president obama or governor mitch daniels. what's interesting going forward, you talk about obviously what is the next step? i do think the president has to go beyond just those battleground states. i do believe he should take his message to some of the red states in this country, some of the poorest states in this country, and begin to say, look, show me how their plans have turned out for you. show me how they have made your life better. are you going to have health care under their plans? are you going to have a better education under those plans? i don't know if he wants to go there, but frankly, i think he should. >> anderson? >> actually, paul begala, was there -- there wasn't much talk about reducing the deficit in this speech, which is something for a lot of republicans should be front and center. >> you're right, and david gergen's right. much more emphasis in this speech on jobs, on opportunity, on education, on health care, on tax policy, interestingly enough. but what also struck me, if you just looked at it, parachuting in from a foreign country, you probably wouldn't know this is a president who is stuck at 44% going into his re-election with a painfully almost 9% unemployment rate, nor if you watched governor daniels would you know that his party is the one that just won a landslide election a year ago. it was really remarkable. governor daniels has his admirers, and he's a fine man. i'm sure he's a good governor. for me his speech was so pessimistic. this is hard to do. it was a glass of warm milk with a fly in it. it was both boring and depressing at the same time. i didn't quite go for it. i want an optimist. i think americans want an optimist. and barack obama doesn't have much to be optimistic about, but by god, he made the most of it tonight. >> gloria? >> i don't think it was that bad, paul. what i think mitch daniels was trying to do was shift the agenda away from what barack obama was talking about and to talk about those deficit issues. and in addition to talking about obama's policy as pro poverty, as roland points out, he also said it is extremism, he called it, that stifles the development of home grown energy or can sells a perfectly safe pipeline that would create jobs, and obviously he's referring to keystone there. let me just get back to the president for one second because i think what he was trying to do -- and he succeeded -- was to thread the needle here because he didn't want independent voters watching him to look at his speech and say, you know what, you just don't like the rich. what you're trying to do is tax the rich. and you are anti-wealth creation. what he went out of his way to say is we don't begrudge financial success in this country, we admire it, and then he started talking about having the wealthy pay their fair share. if you look at the polls in this country, people don't begrudge wealth. they just want taxes to be fair. so he was speaking to them. >> the argument over what does the word fair mean in this case? stick around, everyone. a lot more to talk about. we are live to the midnight hour. up next, a tea party republican's take on tonight from south carolina senator jim demint. we'll talk to him in a moment. and we'll show you the emotional high point of the night, gabby giffords' first state of the union since a gunman nearly took her life and her last state of the union as a congresswoman. o . well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. ...which meant she continued to have the means to live on... ...even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. but one is so clever that your skin looks better even after you take it off. neutrogena® healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% saw improved skin. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics. as long as i'm president, i will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum, but i intend to fight obstruction with action, and i will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place. >> president obama tonight laying down a marker on wall street regulation. other issues outlining action the white house could take without congressional approval. let's turn first to dana bash, who was inside the house chamber for the address tonight. gabby giffords' remarkable appearance, without a doubt, the high point of the evening. >> reporter: there's no question about it, anderson. i have sat in many a speech, from republican presidents, democratic presidents, democratic congresses, republican congresses, and you hear applause, and most of the time frankly you see that it's forced because it's political. there was nothing forced about this. it was democrats and republicans genuinely happy to see gabby giffords and genuinely emotional about the fact she did decide she's going to resign her seat. tomorrow will be her last day so that she can focus full-time on her recovery from what people obviously know was a gunshot wound through her head. i want to bring in her colleague from arizona, congressman jeff flake, who's a republican. congressman, i want to tell your reaction from up in the gallery. you're sitting next to her. you're a republican. she's a democrat. when the democrats stood for the president's applause lines, you helped her stand up. you were oftentimes, most times, the only republican standing there. tell me about that. >> it's the least i can do. it was just an incredible experience to be there with her, particularly after last year, having an empty chair where she should have been. it was just an overwhelming emotional experience for, i think, all of us. >> we could see her. we couldn't hear her. tell us some of what she was saying to you. >> we talked about the resignation tomorrow and the fact we'll be able to pass one of the pieces of legislation she's worked so hard on just before she retires. and also, she mentioned that she tri tried, she tried. she was trying to come back. we all know she gives 100%. whatever is in store for her, we know that she'll give 100%. >> she specifically said to you that she tried to come back but she couldn't. >> she mentioned to a few people when they talked to her, i tried, i tried. it was just, for all of us, we're very saddened to see her retire but just grateful for the service that she's given and the bipartisan atmosphere she brought to the chamber. the fact we all sat together last year and the tradition continued this year, and i hope it continues beyond. >> i was hearing before you were getting tweets from your fellow republicans saying you support that or you support this? >> i think most people will understand. i support my colleague and friend. >> thank you very much. i just want to say, anderson, the irony -- and i think you probably agree with this -- is that gabby giffords we now know is rconsidering running for the senate in arizona. and you are running for senate. you two could have been opponents. >> i would love nothing more than for her to run and participate fully in that way. i'm just grateful that she's recovering and continues to. >> congressman, thank you very much. i appreciate it. that was really one of the most remarkable moments of the day. there's no question about it. he mentioned the fact that last year at this time pretty much everybody, a republican and democrat came from each side of the aisle and sat with them to show their solidarity and bipartisan feeling there. unfortunately, some members decided not to do that this year because following that things devolved into partisanship in the past year, and in the coming year, it's an election year, we're going to see that again. >> dana bash, appreciate that. we're going to take a quick break. coming up, we're going to talk to one of the president's staunchest critics, senator jim demint. ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ take the privileged investing tools of wall street and make them simple, intuitive, and available to all. distill all that data. make information instinctual, visual. introducing trade architect, td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. take control of your portfolio today. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up $600 when you open an account. welcome back to continuing coverage. with me now is unwith of president obama's strongest critics, south carolina senator jim demint. first, senator, the moment gabby giffords entered the chamber, you were in the room. what was that like? >> it was really touching. for her to be there with jeff flake and the tears. obviously, our hearts and prayers continue to go out to her. it was one of those wonderful moments there on the house floor. >> in terms of what the president had to say, was there anything there that you really agreed with? is there any room you see for compromise, for getting things done this year? >> anderson, he said a lot of wonderful things. it would be wonderful if it was true. sew there were things there that i certainly agreed with, but when he talked about us being more energy secure one week from killing the keystone pipeline, talking about building manufacturing jobs in our country when i talked to manufacturers, and they say that obama care, dodd-frank, all the regulations are killing manufacturing jobs. so americans have to ask themselves, are they better off now than they were $4 trillion ago? this sounded like his first speech to the nation. he's trying to run from a record of broken promises, and we're going to have to hold him accountable. >> you wrote an op ed in the national review today and said the president is eroding middle class values. to use your words, "for the last three years, those values have only been punished." do you support the president when he says people who make more than $1 million a year should not get tax breaks or special subsidies, and they should not pay a lower effective tax rate than middle class americans? >> no one should get tax breaks and subsidies. a lot of us for years have been trying to get president obama, for senator obama to go with a low simple flat rate and take out the subsidies and loopholes. we're all for that. but then the president comes back and wants to offer special loopholes to his choice of manufacturers. he wants to pick winners and losers. we just need a simple tax rate that allows our companies to compete. we agree with the concept, but that's not what the president has been doing. he wants to punish people who earn more than a million a year. there are not too many people like warren buffett. to build a policy around warren buffett doesn't make any sense. the things that he has done has made it harder for our economy to sustain middle class jobs. so it's hard for me to sit there and listen to him. frankly, anderson, the biggest point of the spee