Watch it online or on TV. Talk about it here. (Jim Young/Reuters)
6:13 PM PT: "For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat." Even Republicans are on their feet.
6:15 PM PT: I sure hope John Boehner has Kleenex ready, because he seems ready to let loose.
6:17 PM PT: The heart of the speech, which Obama gets at by speaking of the service of his grandparents in World War II:
The two of them shared the optimism of a Nation that had triumphed over a depression and fascism. They understood they were part of something larger; that they were contributing to a story of success that every American had a chance to share – the basic American promise that if you worked hard, you could do well enough to raise a family, own a home, send your kids to college, and put a little away for retirement.
The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. No challenge is more urgent. No debate is more important. We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. What’s at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to reclaim them.
6:18 PM PT:
"There are no Americans fighting in Iraq. However, there are hundreds fighting in this room." #SOTU
— @BorowitzReport
6:19 PM PT: Obama reminds Congress of the central economic fact of his presidency: he inherited an economy in free fall. First, he stabilized it, and now it's growing—and, he says, the growth is getting stronger.
6:20 PM PT:
The state of our Union is getting stronger. And we’ve come too far to turn back now. 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.
6:20 PM PT: Haha, a subtle jab at Mitt Romney over the auto industry. "Some even said to let it die."
6:22 PM PT: Actually, maybe not so subtle. "We bet on American workers, we bet on American ingenuity, and tonight, the American auto industry is back." So take your God damn Swiss Bank Account and shove it up your Cayman Island loving ass, Mitt Romney!
6:27 PM PT: Eric Cantor has a pained look on his face. Actually, the face of stone-cold panic. Obama's talk of restructuring the tax code to give American companies incentives to create American jobs is a fucking nightmare for Cantor. The Republican dream of painting Obama as a socialist Kenyan hell bent on turning America into Europe is fizzling before his eyes.
6:28 PM PT (Kaili Joy Gray): The liveblogging continues in the next thread.