The day president obamas state of the Union Address the speech that sets the agenda for the new year is 12 hours away. It will be his sixth of the presidency and first since he acquired the lame duck label u. Despite that status the president is on something of a roll. Take a look at these numbers from our new wall street journal poll. The president s approval rating, 46 , the highest since the fall of 2013. A big part of that is the economy. 45 say they are satisfied, the best number in over a decade. 49 say the u. S. Is in a state of decline. It may sound like a big number but its the lowest since nbc started asking the question in 1991. Heres what the chief of staff had had to say on today. What the president is saying is the middle class economics we pursued since 2009 have gotten us to where we are. More and more americans are feeling better about the economy. Theres still yet to be done and thats what we want to talk about tonight. And no better person to discuss what all this me
Good to have you back. Good to be here. Are you ready for this news cycle . It is busy. State of the union. We have a lot of stuff happening. But segment on do men talk more than women which im sure you have an opinion. How will i win. Ask you to stop talking because ive got to talk. My turn. Tonight or tomorrow night i should say president obama will deliver his state of the Union Address. He is expected to announce a plan calling for billions of dollars in tax hikes on the wealthiest americans to offset programs that he says will help the middle class. It is likely to be a nonstarter with the gopled congress. Here is republican senator, marco rubio. The notion first of all, in order for some people to do better someone has to do worse is just not true. Raising taxes on people that are successful is not going to make people struggling more successful. The good news about Free Enterprise everyone can succeed without punishing everyone. It would also be counterproductive. When asked if
Will never become law. Chief White House Correspondent ed henry is live at the white house tonight. Hey, ed. Good evening, megyn. Thats the bottom line, the president will run into a brick wall of opposition not just from republicans but moderate nkts in the senate as well not pleased with these tax hikes. What this is really about is a president building his legacy and setting up the message for democrats heading into 2016 because he by his own aides account is feeling the economy recovering and wants to put it out there that hes for the middle class, republicans are for the rich. In fact the message they put out today in a preview video of the president from the white house was basically saying that this is all like 2012, Campaign Commercials when he was talking about the middle class and how he won on a platform of taxing the rich spending more money and trying to have tax cuts for the middle class. Yet the president you remember tried that message in the midterms of 2014 and lost.
Belgian terror cell. This is the guy. Then theres the worlds most wanted woman. Weve been talking about her now for just about two weeks. The widow of that paris kosher market gunman. Cnn is now tracking how Hayat Boumeddiene may have escaped to syria. All of these men believed to have helped smuggle her out of turkey. As the reach of isis extends deep into europe back on their turf. Japan now has less than 72 hours to come up with this 200 million ransom for the return of these two japanese hostages. To the Prime Minister of japan, although you are more than 8,500 kilometers away from the Islamic State you have willingly taken part in this crusade. This is significant. This is a first. Really until now, isis has never publicly demanded cash ransom for a hostages life. And the 200 million ransom was not chosen at random. This is the precise dollar amount that japan had pledged in aid for regions affected by the war on isis. Thats why that number is significant. A lot to talk about. Let
Will be hit with tax increases. The total is roughly 320 billion in the president s proposal tomorrow night at the state of the Union Hearing about it first today. Whats interesting is what it will be used to pay for. What will actually come out of that. Part of it is 60 billion for another plan the president will talk about tomorrow night socalled Free Community college. Of course, it is not free because it will cost about 60 billion. Thats part of the reason he is raising taxes. Other bit is well over 100 billion for tax credits for working couples. 500 tax credit if you are a couple, both working that is making a total of 120,000 or less. If youre making between 120,000 a year and 210,000 a year, you will get a partial credit. Not quite 500. A little bet less. The white house says look the bottom line here is that economy is recovering despite republican claims that president s plans over the six years would wreck the economy. It is coming around recovery. He has room to run and he