State of the Union Thread

I'm not going to be live-tweeting the SOTU address tonight, because: 1. It's already been a long-ass day; and 2. I've already tweeted so much today I'd end up in Twitter jail almost immediately if I tried to live-tweet it. So here's an Open Thread for discussion before and during the address tonight.

By way of preview, the White House Office of the Press Secretary has made available the following excerpt as prepared for delivery:

It is our generation's task, then, to reignite the true engine of America's economic growth – a rising, thriving middle class.

It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country – the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, what you look like, or who you love.

It is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few; that it encourages free enterprise, rewards individual initiative, and opens the doors of opportunity to every child across this great nation of ours.

[...]

A growing economy that creates good, middle-class jobs – that must be the North Star that guides our efforts. Every day, we should ask ourselves three questions as a nation: How do we attract more jobs to our shores? How do we equip our people with the skills needed to do those jobs? And how do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living?

[...]

Tonight, I'll lay out additional proposals that are fully paid for and fully consistent with the budget framework both parties agreed to just 18 months ago. Let me repeat – nothing I'm proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime. It's not a bigger government we need, but a smarter government that sets priorities and invests in broad-based growth.

Austerity plus the centering of the middle class that elides entrenched poverty. I'm not excited, and not surprised. But I'll withhold further judgment until I hear the whole thing. After all, we've been promised aggression!