Middle class, the middle class starts to enjoy the fruits of this economic recovery. Senior White House Correspondent jim acosta has the details. Reporter john and christine, this was not a speech from a president who sees himself as a lame duck. In his state of the Union Address, president obama came out and declared the nations economy as on the rise but he also offered up his prescription for lifting up the middle class raising taxes and fees on the wealthy and big banks in exchange for new tax breaks for middleincome earners. Now, as part of the president s middle class economics theme, the president also talked about his plan for Free Community college, but he also covered other subjects. He asked lawmakers to give him a vote to authorize force on isis. He called on congress to lift the embargo on cuba slammed the Keystone Pipeline vowed to Iran Legislation and vowed to turn politics away from 9 11 and the financial crisis and toward the future. Heres what the president had to say. 15 years into this new century, we have picked ourselves up dusted ourselves off and begun again the work of remaking america. We have laid a new foundation. A Brighter Future is ours to write. Lets begin this new chapter together and lets start the work right now. Reporter the president will take his message to idaho later today and then kansas on thursday both red states but a democratic source tells me the president will be visiting more red states in the coming months. He wants to engage americans who dont agree with him to sell his agenda. And also coming soon, the president s budget which includes that tax plan one republicans have already deemed dead on arrival. John and christine . All right. Our thanks to jim for that. Republicans, of course took a much dimmer view of the economy in their rebuttal following the president s speech. Freshman iowa senator joni ernst spoke of stagnant wages and lost jobs and what she called the hurt caused by canceled health care plans. She sees the mandate for change that republicans believe they won in the november elections. Americans have been hurting, but when we demanded solutions, too often, washington responded with the same stale mindset that led to failed policies like obamacare. Its a mindset that gave us political talking points, not serious solutions. Thats why the new republican majority you elected started by reforming congress to make it function again. And now, were working hard to pass the kind of serious jobcreation ideas you deserve. So what did the public think of the president s speech . A cnn instant poll found a generally favorable response. 51 of americans who watched the speech had a very positive reaction. That is up from last year and significantly better than the reception george w. Bush received at the same point in his presidency. How about political figures mulling white house bids in 2016 . Hillary clinton, she may run for president , im told. She praised the speech in a tweet, saying it pointed the way to an economy that works for all. She added, now we need to step up and deliver for the middle class. Look at those hashtags fairshot and fairshare. You will hear those again, im sure. On facebook republican jeb bush praised the republican rebuttal and advised the president to be mindful of the strong message American Voters sent in november and work with the new republican congressional majority. The state of the union was all about the state of the middle class. The president wants to make child care more affordable proposing a 500 tax credit for couples who both work. He also wants to increase the child care credit to 3,000 per year per kid. The president also pushed changes to education. By the end of this decade two in three job openings will require some higher education, two in three. And yet, we still live in a country where too many bright striving americans are priced out of the education they need. Its not fair to them and its sure not smart for our future. Hes proposing free Free Community college for millions and wants to eliminate some of the tax benefits of 529 College Savings plans as part of an attempt to streamline education tax breaks and target students who need the most help. How is he going to pay for all this . By raising the Capital Gains tax to 28 from 20 , eliminating the socalled trust Fund Loophole that lets wealthy americans pass on assets taxfree and by new taxes on very big banks. Thats the plan. Can it pass . Republicans say no way. They say the proposed tax changes are not serious. Social media was buzzing as americans and lawmakers took to twitter and facebook to sound off on the president s speech. This was a part of the speech in particular that went viral on facebook. Listen. I have no more campaigns to run. My only agenda [ applause ] [ laughter ] i know because i won both of them. [ cheers and applause ] that i have to say, is going to be remembered as the line of the speech. It was adlibbed. It was not part of the text but sometimes these adlibs are, in fact planned. And look i think democrats, you can see, loved it. They loved his defiance they loved his confidence. And republicans will just say he doesnt get the message that voters sent. So it will be interesting to see how that plays over the course of the day. Republicans did stand up to cheer the president , at least a few points notably when he invoked the u. S. Fight against global terror. We stand united with people around the world who have been targeted by terrorists from a school in pakistan to the streets of paris. [ applause ] we will continue to hunt down terrorists and dismantle their networks and we reserve the right to act unilaterally as we have done relentlessly since i took office to take out terrorists who pose a direct threat to us and our allies. President obama gave much the same message of support to french president Francois Hollande in a phone conversation earlier in the day. Later today, the french management is set to outline new antiterrorism measures at a News Conference in paris, all this as investigators in paris pore over new Surveillance Video. Look at this obtained exclusively by cnn. This appears to show the paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly and his partner, hay etet boumeddiene, casing the scene in paris. We turn now to Nic Robertson in paris with the latest on the investigation. Good morning, nic. Reporter good morning, john. Just look at how the pair are casing the potential for a terrorist attack. Boumeddiene is dressed almost in hot pants there. There is a clear effort by them to deceive anyone looking at them that they have any connections whatsoever to do with radical islam. That obviously, one of the issues that faces French Security authorities all the time. The Prime Minister here today saying in the press conference saying that radicalization never continues or never stops to increase in the country. Radicalization an ongoing problem. And he is announceing measures to tackle this. He has Just Announced 300 million to be spent over the next three years at the interior Ministry Just to combat counterterrorism. Right now, he said there are 120,000 French Police deployed across the country. Weve learned from prosecutors this morning a little more about coulibaly and the associates within the four people who are currently in detention. The prosecutor named them as willie christoph, tony michael, not muslim names. These people the prosecutor implied, had been involved in buying the vehicle used in the operation, theyre involved in buying the weapons. Three of them had prior criminal convictions against them. They werent involved necessarily, directly in the plot he said but clearly a nexus becoming apparent here between the criminal underworld gun supplying, and terrorists here in this country, a major concern now, john. Nic robertson on the investigation with new developments coming in by the hour. Appreciate it nic. Happening now in belgium, the countrys Public Prosecutor getting set to address a Police Operation tuesday in combine, very close to the border with france. So far, officials have only said that 82 people were evacuated from 33 apartments and this operation went smoothly went calmly. No comment yet on whether this was a terrorrelated operation, but that is the suspicion here. Officials are searching for, meantime abdel hamid abahoud, the suspected ringleader of an isislinked belgium terror cell. Cnn has obtained a tape of abaaoud defending their tactics. Listen. [ speaking Foreign Language ] dom. Lets skip now to yemen, where rebels have successfully staged a coup and overtaken a palace in sanaa. The information minister in yemen told our Nick Paton Walsh that the president there is no longer in control. There are concerns Major Concerns that a government collapse could send that country into fullscale civil war. The situation there is already one of pure chaos, chaos that is being exploited by radical groups such as al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. They are winning recruits there and there are grave concerns about u. S. Interests there. A u. S. Embassy vehicle was shot near an embassy checkpoint monday night. Two Navy Warships have now moved into the red sea. Theyre ready to evacuate americans from the embassy, if need be. A palestinian man has been arrested after nine people were stabbed on a bus in tel aviv. Israeli police are calling this a terror attack. The attacker was eventually chased down shot by police and arrested. This is just the latest in a string of attacks against israelis in recent months. Several of them deadly. The Islamic Militant group hamas which controls neighboring gaza praising these stabbings as brave and heroic. Happening now, japan working to free hostages two hostages held by isis. Will japan pay terrorists 200 million ransom . Were live with the latest developments on this. You get sick you cant breathe through your nose suddenly, youre a mouth breather. A mouth breather well, put on a breathe right strip and shut your mouth. Cold medicines open your nose over time, but add a breathe right strip and pow, it opens your nose up to 38 more. So you can breathe and do the one thing you want to do sleep. Add breathe right to your Cold Medicine shut your mouth and sleep right. Breathe right. And look for the calming scent of new breathe right lavender in the sleep aisle. Shopping online is as easy as it gets. Wouldnt it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters and even piano tuners were just as simple . Thanks to angies list now it is. Start shopping online from a list of toprated providers. Visit angieslist. Com today. Discover card. Hey so im looking at my bill and my fico® Credit Scores on here. We give you your fico® score each month for free awesomesauce wow the only person i know that says that is. Lisa . Julie . at discover, we treat you like youd treat you. Get the it card and see your fico® credit score. [ male announcer ] its a warning. A wakeup call. But its not happening out there. Its happening in here. [ sirens wailing ] inside of you. Even if youre treating your Crohns Disease or ulcerative colitis, an occasional flare may be a sign of damaging inflammation. Learn more about the role damaging inflammation may be playing in your symptoms with the expert advice tool at crohnsandcolitis. Com. And then speak with your gastroenterologist. Just about anywhere you use sugar, you can use splenda®. No calorie sweetener. Splenda® lets you experience. The joy of sugar. Without all the calories. Think sugar, say splenda® does a freshly printed presentation fill you with optimism . Then you might be gearcentric. Right now, get this case of paper for only 24. 99 and save even more after rewards. Office depot officemax. Gear up for great. President obama urging congress to end the u. S. Trade embargo against cuba. In last nights state of the Union Address, the president touted the executive actions he has already taken to normalize relations with cuba urging congress to finish the job, and he acknowledged the presence of Government Contractor alan gross. He was in the crowd last night. Of course he was freed as part of the negotiations with cuba. As his holiness pope francis, has said diplomacy is the work of small steps. These small steps have added up to new hope for the future in cuba. And after years in prison we are overjoyed that alan gross is back where he belongs. Welcome home alan. Were glad youre here. Historic talks on restoring full diplomatic relations between the United States and cuba are set to begin in havana today. On cubas list of demands before restoring full relations, it wants to be removed from the u. S. List of state sponsors of terrorism. Right now, the japanese government is using every diplomatic channel available to make contact with isis this morning and convince the Extremist Group not to execute two japanese hostages. Isis is demanding a 200 million ransom to spare these mens lives. It is not clear this morning whether japan will pay it. Will ripley live on the ground in tokyo tracking the latest developments. And of course the moral dilemma here for anyone paying a ransom is that it gives isis more money to go on more killing sprees and more kidnapping sprees. Reporter absolutely christine, and that is certainly weighing heavily on many people here in japan who know that any Additional Resources in the hands of isis could put more lives in danger. On the other hand there are two japanese citizens right now in desperate need of some kind of help and so, we dont know exactly what steps the japanese government is taking aside from assurances from the Prime Minister when he got off the plane here in tokyo a short time ago that all steps will be taken to rescue these two men. We have been talking today with friends of kenji goto who describe him as a seasoned journalist a freelancer who was in and out of war zones for much of the past decade and were getting more information about the relationship between goto and Haruna Yukawa who was a relative newcomer to the scene in the middle east. Were told that these two men met in syria a year ago, about a year ago. And goto gave advice to a new friend of his, another fellow from japan, about ways to survive in the middle east ways to make sure that you stay out of the kind of trouble that these two men are now in. And so when goto found out that yukawa had been captured by isis friends say it weighed very heavily on him. He felt somehow that he was personally responsible, and perhaps went back into syria to try to find this man, to try to talk to isis and see if he could do something to help. I spoke with a close friend of goto whos known him for more than a decade and he gave this Emotional Message to his friend. Im with you, and everybody with you, so dont give up. I know you are not giving up. I could tell from your face from that video. Reporter christine, were told that goto was very passionate about the children who were affected by the crisis in the middle east. He reported extensively about them but also wanted to tell all sides of the story, including the perspective of the isis fighters who he felt may have been pushed into this conflict you know through forces that may not have been their own choice. And it just makes the whole situation that much more tragic to know that now he is in a video with a man that perhaps he went to the middle east to try to help. Just really sad. And the government has a lot of work to do trying to figure out how to get those men back. Thank you so much will ripley. 17 minutes after the hour right now. Fox news could face legal action over its coverage suggesting that parts of paris are off limits to non muslims. The mayor of paris, Anne Hildalgo says the network insulted the city and insists that muslim nogo zones do not exist. The mayor tells cnn she plans to sue for prejudice to the honor and image of paris. Fox has repeatedly apologized. Meantime louisiana governor bobby jindal is doubling down on his contention that some western countries have allowed muslims to establish these autonomous neighborhoods in cities where islamic tradition trumps regular law. Some see it as a part of a political strategy in an effort to make jindal stand out from a crowded field of potential candidates for the 2016 republican nomination. A team of senior fbi agents will lead the federal civil rights investigation into the police choke hold death of eric garner in new york. Garner was unarmed when he died at the hands of Police Officers last summer. In december a grand jury decided not to indict a white police officer, Daniel Pantaleo in garners death. The incident youll remember sparked a wave of antipolice demonstrations across the country. Authorities say the goal of this new investigation is to take a fresh look at the entire case. Police are still trying to determine the motive for a Fatal Shooting at a boston hospital. The victim 44yearold heart surgeon Michael Davidson died late tuesday night. Police believe he was targeted by the suspect, 55yearold steven paseri who entered brigham and youngs Womens Hospital early tuesday, asked for davidson and then shot him twice. The gunman then took his own life. Authorities say the suspect may have been related to one of the doctors patients. A lot of people in that hospital. What a tragedy. They are trucking in bottled water in the t