things on the president s list that can get done? where can the white house and democrats work with republicans? right, there wasn t a lot of overlap there, frankly, with what the president proposed. obviously both groups want to target the middle class. there are a lot of voters in the country s middle class. but there really isn t a lot of overlap. they talk about energy and also there was some kind of suggestions in the president s speech about medicare and some reforms to that it program where congress could come together. and obviously immigration, but we re a long way from the finish line on that policy issue. hold on, i want to bring in peter welch. let s get reaction to what we heard from speaker boehner. he said the president laid out no plan for the sequester. was that something you think he should have brought up last night? i think he did bring it up, and i think we re just talking past each other right now. two things the president spoke
our economies are binded together and we can grow together or sink together and it s better to cooperate. it s much more effective to do so in a global world that is asking us to raise the level of our international relations. i think it can work. the other obviously big international issue as we talked about yesterday quite a bit, north korea. the president saying that the regime must know they will only secure prosperity by meeting their international obligations. members of the u.n., other key players in all this, how closely are they looking or parse iing clues? well, i think they are in a black hole with north korea. excuse me i had a frog in my throat. there s a problem with north korea. a lot of pressure already on it. i m not sure how much the international community can really do more than it s already doing right now. so when you re dealing with an
vatican terms wild politicking going on amongst the other cardinals, something they are not supposed to do. the big question, who will be the next pope? could he be from africa? we ll get to that in a couple minutes. first, let s talk about the state of the union. next hour president obama will make the first of three stops to drum up support for the new initiatives he laid out in his e speech last time. he will be traveling to north carolina, georgia, and chicago. the new york times called his speech asserttive. politico, aggressive. the president insisted we need a smarter government, not a smaller government. it was the economy that dominated the speech including a call to elevate the middle class. it is our generation s task to reignite the true engine of america s economic growth. a rising, thriving middle class and that s why we need to build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class for all those
president the first time, he proposed to raising it to $9.50. right now it s at $7.25. looking over analysis, economist es seem to be split, but most republican ls say they think it s going to hurt job creators and small business. where do you stand on this? i support raising the minimum wage. the fact is it does have an impact. if an employer has to pay more, that s tougher on the employer, but if you work full-time and you work a hard job, you ought to be able to pay your bills. and with the $7.25 minimum wage, that s not working out. so it s not as though it you can raise the minimum wage and have all the problems in the economy vanish. but on the other hand, having a minimum wage where people work hard and can t even pay for an apartment, that s not a sustainable economy. one of the really emotional moments of the night, arguably the most emotional, was at the end when he talked about guns.
just trying to tell the public what to think. shira, jacki, thanks to both of you. thank you. thank you. the confirmation for treasury nominee jack lew is underway. he s going to succeed secretary timothy geithner. lawmakers are expected to question him about his stint at citigroup between the clinton and obama administrations. they could save a lot of money on their car insurance by switching to geico.they may even make you their best man. may i have the rings please? ah, helzberg diamonds. nice choice, mate. .and now in the presence of these guests we join this loving couple. oh dear. geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. how did i know? well, i didn t really.