Ready to deliver his state of the Union Address. He seems to be addressed to pursue the policies he cares about. Im still around because ive got some work to do. The president is going to be announcing. Proposals to cut tax to the middle class. The tax to the superwealthy. The battle of the middle class has begun. Not going to make people who are struggling more successful. On the edge about terror. On edge about terror all across europe. Sleeper cells could be at rest in the United States. We have to be vigilant and relentless. For black people in america the sense that we are in a post Racial Society is totally false. Because he was African American he was going to bridge that gap, and thats not so easy to do. As president obama prepares to deliver his state of the Union Address tuesday night, tens of millions of americans are expected to tune in to see where the president stands and what challenges he think Congress Needs to address in 2015. With the challenges of Islamic State and the domestic issues from paris, domestic issues, are taking center stage. The economy as the president has shown,ing has made progress and hes confident it will improve. Last year was the best growth year since the 1990s. The Unemployment Rate has dropped to 5. 6 . We have seen manufacturing come back. We have cut our deficits, gas prices have dropped and so we are well positioned for future. Joining us is al jazeera Political Correspondent michael shore and third way think tank al jazeera contributor both of us are coming from washington, d. C. Michael shore, the state of the Union Address, 320 billion of new tax revenue from raising Capital Gains taxes, and 175 billion of tax credits for middle Class Companies for childcare, Retirement Savings and more. Is this possible with a Republican Controlled Congress . Its not possible at all. There is no way this will pass the congress. But now that the congress is in republican hands after the disastrous mid terms for the president he still has the presidency so he can still put those people on the defensive. What hes doing david is putting them in a position to have to defend the wealthy. The republicans defending the wealthy didnt work for them last time, its not going to work this time. Even if it doesnt pass it puts them about a position the reebilityrepublicans dont want to dcialtion the republicans dont want to see and the democrats dont want to have them. Taxes are the republicans turf, republicans never met a tax break they didnt like. Theyre going to like a lot of the tax break the president will talk about in the state of the union. What they wont like are the tax increases. Theyre going to insist it be taken care of by cutting spending. The president is laying down a marker in this speech. He says this is where i stand, this is where my party stands, tax breaks paid by tax increases on the very, very wealthy. Thats marker. Republicans can say okay great we love the tax breaks for middle class but instead of taxing the wealthy to pay for it we want to cut back on benefits for, say, social security. Let them try that one. That is the most popular entitlement there is. If they say that the president is going to say go ahead, make my day. But michael is it possible that the president will have as they call in washington, payforce that are not quite what the payfors, tax code on the wealthy . That is possible, the president has said he would be open for negotiation, that would be the place woe start. But the republicans michigan mcconnell, willing to sit down with him . Are there causes of cause of action caucuses that will do it . You have bigger problems in the senate 174 people running for president in 2016 so theyre going to have their own agendas there david. It is going to be difficult to wrangle those. The president will still be in a position of power but the democrats dont want him to do that though. The poll of monmouth university, asked in the recent economic upturn, whether ttys dow, 8 said yes they felt they had been impacted a great deal 30 some, not at all 29 , in other words 61 of americans say the economic upturn is passing them by, that almost correlates Bill Schneider with the economy being stagnant. Is there anything the president is pushing forward that would change that . Well, its going to give money in the form of tax cuts to the middle class. Left wing cuts that would expand the size of government. This is not a Big Government spending program. This is entirely done through tax system. With the exception of the Community College which has to be paid for in partnership with the states. But mostly its a way of using the tax system to give benefits directly to wage earners. The biggest problem in the country right now is wage stagnation. Middle class people and workers have not seen a rise in their wages or standard of living for 14 years. Even though Economic Growth is increasing in this country. That is a big paradox and both the democrats and the republicans are recognizing that. And michael shore ask it then the obligation of president obama to draw that broader theme that no matter how he does it he needs to make the americans convinced that no matter how he does it he gets it on middle class economy . We are writing the headlines in a way but its going to be about the middle class. Its the economy and the middle class, thats what the president is going to focus on and going to what bill just said this is about tax reform. You saw tax reform come out in november when the republicans won the mid terms. Tom conton in arkansas, now president has to change the message. If this poll is accurate and you have that big a number makes me think its unbelievably accurate because its overwhelming to a degree. And i think that then theyre going to look at these numbers and theyre going to say hey our messaging isnt working. Tomorrow night at the state of the union this is the chance to start changing that message. I have to think theyre looking at the al jazeeramonmouth University Poll as they say that. Across all income groups Economic Issues are the top concerns of American Families over terrorism immigration, crime, anything else, even College Tuition concerns were greater than terrorism. Bill schneider are you surprised . There hasnt been a terrorist attack directly on the United States. Americans are frightened by what happened in france but they dont feel as directly threatened by terrorism than they do by the stagnant economy. Thats in their face every single day. You mentioned headlines before. The Washington Post headline on sunday, Budget Proposal to target wealthy. The headline on the New York Times the very same day, obama seeks to reduce taxes on the middle class. Thats a very mixed message there and both headlines are correct. Another part of the memorandum message, al jazeera poll 47 of the respondents felt the government was hurting. 33 of democrats felt the government actions had hurt their economic concerns. What sort of burden does that place on president obama for tomorrow nights speech . Listen, this is a speech given to the seat of government government. Them. Of course 47 is a number the president would like to ballyhoo when he talks of mitt romney and his failed campaign. What youre talking about here is a president who is addressing a congress and neither of them have great Approval Ratings but the congresss Approval Rating is worse. And the people in his own party think the government is standing in the way of progress. The president has a chance to open the door and maybe talk about frog thats being made but he also has an obligation to make people feel whoit clearly from this who clearly are not feeling it. Bill schneider how should the president deal with health care in the state of the union . Lets move on. Thats message on health care, its done, its law, its working, lets move on. He doesnt want to continue litigating that issue. But the republicans do. Is there an opportunity oremind the country that the republicans have now Something Like 50 times tried to vote to change obamacare. He will be pointing to where his wife is sitting and one of the 22 people shes invited to the state of the union, got covered for a brain tumor. That is the ef efficacy of the Affordable Care act. What the president can do with the people in the gallery, you can see exactly where that speech going to go tomorrow. Let republicans hear that story. Another big issue in the president s speech is give free colleges. What are the politics behind there . Michael you start. You said it earlier david, a lot of people say that education, cost of education is even above terrorism. This is another example. Maybe the white house is starting to listen. The president is untethered by playing politics, he can leaft alleviate those pains on the middle clasp. That is one of the key factors behind wage stagnation. Educational gains have been going faster in other countries than in the United States. American workers are fawlings behind because to get a knowledge oriented job in the American Economy you have to get a college degree. The president has to do everything he can to make American Workers more globally competitive. Thats one of the ways to deal with wage stagnation. Well be back with miecialg shore and michaelshore and Bill Schneider but first well get to headlines around the world. We begin in yemen where Houthi Rebels and Government Troops battled in the capital city of sanaa. A step towards a coup. 50 people were killed and 100 injured in fierce fighting. That loud the rebels to secure state run television. An uneasy are truce announced late in the day, appeared to be standing. Each blamed each other for mondays conflict. Next we head across the United States where thousands of americans observed Martin Luther king day, by race marching against racial equality. Deaths of black men at the hands of white police officers. With the slogan black lives matter. Best honored by following his example of nonviolent resistance. Protesters in new york city, rl marched against violence. In oakland, california protesters. Iranians confirm that an elite member of their revolutionary guard was killed. In the country to advise syrian bashar alassad, others killed in the attack including the son of the commander, assads main allies in the region. Domestic issues from the state of the union to the frayed Race Relations and the International Issues that will be part of the president s our social media producer, Hermela Aregawi tracking, the digital world. Whats trending . You might be surprised whos moderating a live conversation with the president. Join the conversation and were continuing our special edition preview coverage of president obamas state of the Union Address. Were back with al jazeera Political Correspondent michael shore and Bill Schneider. Bill well start with you. Domestic social issues will likely be a part of the president s address. Today is Martin Luther king today and people in new york and elsewhere marched with signs that said black lives matter. In wake of the controversy shootings in ferguson and Staten Island new york, can we avoid the issue . I dont think so. Without taking one side or the other even though hes African American, he hass expressed sympathy for working class white americans who feel that they too are victims and he wants to try to calm a lot of the fears and concerns out there. The president himself said that instances of Police Mistreatment and brutality are nothing new. Theyve been going on for a long time. Why have they suddenly emerged the public consciousness because of social media. People are aware of these things for the first time. Michael shore the new Al Jazeera America monmouth University Poll has found that race relation ves nots have not gotten better, but worse. Are you surprised . Yes i am surprised. Even the conversations that were happening this week over selma the film, the film depicting the selma to montgomery march over civil rights, it was snubbed by the oscars. Bill is right, social media is played a big part of this. The president isnt a civil rights leader, hes a president. He does have to take sides. A lot of liberals, a lot of democrats, expected a lot of overt attack on racism from this president simply because of the fact he was African American. I think thats what needs a lot of the disappointment, thats not what they got but they certainly have the conversation, the conversations that endured throughout his presidency. When you look at last years speech immigration was a huge part of last years speech but none of the previews mention it. Would it be wise for the president to touch on Immigration Reform . I think it would be. I think it would be wise for him to touch on it in every scope of what hes talking about, including what you brought up david Community Colleges, i think hes going to talk about the dreamers, the Positive Side of immigration and why we need to do things for these americans and again, if this speech is all about politics which we know most of it is, thats another place for the president to stake a claim on a segment of the electorate. To do it at the state of the union, people talk about falling numbers for the state of the union speech but still 30 Million People are going to be watching and a lot more people are going to be seeing it on the news and theyre going to see it clipped on youtube. Its important for him to do. Bill i wonder if americans should be mind of the of what the president says, given there are a lot of latinos, a lot ever people to boo and his and cheer. Those reaction shots could be significant right . Yes, they could be and if theres any perception that republicans are hostile to minorities, that they are not sim thet sympathetic to latinoamericans, that could be damaging. Look at california when they passed the law deny Public Services to Illegal Immigrants in that state, the immigrant population rallied and they voted. Theyre worried that that could happen to the entire country. Michael lets talk about the state of the Union Address itself. The white house suggested they were going to dribble out parts of the speech itself. Was it a wise strategy for white house to do it this way . It remains to be seen. Thats probably low risk. The people who are interested in the president s speech are not going to turn away because they say they know what hes going to be talking about, where these tax cuts or these tax increases ton wealthy, tax cuts on the middle class, hes going to be able to talk about what dreamers are and cuba and et cetera. That has an appeal. But the headlines have started out a conversation. That conversation has taken place before the speech, it will take place after the speech. Ordinarily we are accustomed to seeing it staff speech. Bill do you agree . Last year the audience of the state of the union as michael said about 33 Million People. Last year the audience for the football game, the super bowl, was 112 million that says something about what americans are interested in. And i think even the College Football super bowl equivalent the bowl championship playoffs attracted more than 33 million. Does state of the union amount to much anymore . Not really, a particular phrase the president might have used in the state of the union the evil empire, it was very important whether we were going to war in iraq and president bush talked about yellow cake uranium, and implicating in the 9 11 attack, at the beginning of the Monica Lewinsky schedule, bill clinton spoke for 60 minutes and never mentioned her. But the audience was 60 million. Even if people dont want to watch theres something comforting about somehow being linked to history, mr. Speaker the president of the United States, and the president hands out copies of his address and he shakes hands and all the choreography, there is something reassuring to the speech. The pageantry of the speech there is a lot of pageantry. Woodrow wilsons speech was delivered on paper. But now you sit down and you watch state of the union bingo depending on how many people stand up or sit down. There is a silliness and a parody of it. But the things people listen to and play off of. It starts the political dialogue, but next year there is a president ial election, there is a kickoff to go to bills super bowl reference. This is a kicko