routine business, passed through the senate. neither party has been blameless in these tactics. now both parties should put an end to it. for starters, i asked the senate to pass a simple rule that all judicial and public service nominations receive a simple up or down vote within 90 days. [ applause ] the executive branch also needs to change. too often it's inefficient, outdated, and remote. that's why i've asked this congress to grant me the authority to consolidate the federal bureaucracy so that our government is leaner, quicker, and more responsive to the needs of the american people. finally, none of this can happen unless we also lower the temperature in this town. we need to end the notion that the two parties must be locked in a perpetual campaign of mutual destruction, that politics is about clinging to rigid ideaologisologies instead building consensus around common sense ideas. i'm a democrat, but i believe what republican abraham lincoln believed -- the government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves and no more. that's why my education reform offers more control for states. that's why we're getting rid of regulations that don't work. that's why our health care law relies on a reformed private market, not a public health care program. and yet even my republican friends who complain the most about federal spending have financed roads and clean energy projects and federal offices for the folks back home. the point is we should all want a smarter, more effective government. and while we may not be able to bridge our biggest philosophical differences this year, we can make real progress. with or without this congress, i will keep taking actions that help the economy grow, but i can do a whole lot more with your help because, when we act together, there's nothing the united states of america can't achieve. that's the lesson we've learned from our actions abroad over the last few years. ending the iraq war has allowed us to strike decisive blows against our enemies, from pakistan to yemen, the al qaeda operatives who remain are scrambling, knowing that they can't escape the reach of the united states of america. from this position of strength, we begin to wind down the war in afghanistan. 10,000 of our troops have come home. 23,000 more will leave by the end of this summer. this transition to afghan lead will continue, and we will build an enduring partnership with afghanistan so that it is never again a source of attacks against america. as the tide of war recedes, the wave of change has washed across the middle east and north africa from tunis to cairo, from sanaa to tripoli. a year ago gadhafi was one of the world's longest serving dictators, a murderer with american blood on his hands. today he is gone, and in syria i have no doubt the assad regime will soon discover that the forces of change cannot be reversed. as human dignity cannot be denied. it remains uncertain. we have a huge stake in the outcome. while it's ultimately up to the people of the region to decide their fate, we will advocate those values that have served our country so well. we will stand against violence and intimidation. we will stand for the rights and dignity of all human beings, men and women, christians, muslims, and jews. we will support policies that lead to strong and stable democracies and open markets because tyranny is no match for liberty. we will safeguard america's own security against those who threaten our citizens, our friends, and our interests. look at iran. through the power of our diplomacy, a world that was once divided about how to deal with iran's nuclear program now stands as one. the regime is more isolated than ever before. its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions. as long as they shirk their responsibilities, this pressure will not relent. let there be no doubt, america is determined to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and i will take no options off the table to achieve that goal. but a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible and far better, and if iran changes course and meets its obligations, it can rejoin the community of nations. the renewal of american leadership can be felt across the globe. our oldest alliances in europe and asia are stronger than ever. our ties to the americas are deep deeper. our ironclad commitment, and i mean ironclad to israel security, has meant the closest cooperation between our two countries in history. we made it clear that america is a pacific power, and a new beginning in burma has left a new hope. from the coalitions we've built to secure nuclear materials to the missions we've led against hunger and disease from the blows we've dealt our enemies to the enduring power of our moral example, america is back. anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that america is in decline or that our influence has waned doesn't know what they're talking about. that's not the message we get from leaders around the world who are eager to work with us. that's not how people feel from tokyo to berlin, from capetown tori yoe, where opinions of america are higher than they've been in years. yes, the world is changing. no, we can't control every event. but america remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs, and as long as i'm president, i intend to keep it that way. that's why working with our military leaders, i've ensured a new defense strategy that ensures we maintain the finest military in the world while saving $500 billion in our budget. to stay one step ahead of our adversaries. i've already sent this congress legislation that will secure our country from the growing dangers of cyber threats. above all, our freedom endures because the men and women in uniform who defend it. [ applause ] as they come home, we must serve them as well as they've served us. that includes giving them the care and the benefits they have earned, which is why we've increased annual va spending every year i've been president. and it means investing our veterans in the work of our nation. with the bipartisan support of this congress, we're providing tax credits to companies that hire vets. michelle and joe biden have worked with american businesses to secure a pledge of 135,000 jobs for veterans and their families. and tonight i'm proposing a veterans jobs corps that will help our communities hire veterans as cops and firefighters so that america is as strong as those who defend it. which brings me back to where i began. those of us who have been sent here to serve can learn a thing from the service of our troops. when you put on the uniform, it doesn't matter if you're black or white, asian, latino, native american, conservative, liberal, rich, poor, gay, straight. when you're marching into battle, you look out for the person next to you, or the mission fails. when you're in the thick of the fight, you rise or fall as one unit, serving one nation, leaving no one behind. one of my proudest possessions is the flag the s.e.a.l. team took with them on the mission to get bin laden. on it are each of their names. some may be democrats. some may be republicans. but that doesn't matter. just like it didn't matter that day in the situation room, when i sat next to bob gates, a man who was george bush's defense secretary, and hillary clinton, a woman who ran against me for president. all that mattered that day was the mission. no one thought about politics. no one thought about themselves. one of the young men involved in the raid later told me that he didn't deserve credit for the mission. it only succeeded, he said, because every single member of that unit did their job. the pilot who landed the helicopter that spun out of control, the translator who kept others from entering the compound, the troops who separated the women and children from the fight, the s.e.a.l.s who charged up the stairs. more than that, the mission only succeeded because every member of that unit trusted each other because you can't charge up those stairs into darkness and danger unless you know that there's somebody behind you watching your back. each time i look at that flag, i'm reminded our destiny is stitched together like those 50 stars and those 13 stripes. no one built this country on their own. this nation is great because we built it together. this nation is great because we worked as a team. this nation is great because we get each other's backs. if we hold fast to this truth in this moment of trial, there is no challenge too great, no mission too hard. as long as we are joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, and our future is hopeful, and the state of our union will always be strong. thank you. god bless you. and god bless the united states of america. [ applause ] >> the president of the united states speaking to a joint session of congress, speaking for well over an hour on a wide range of issues, mostly domestic issues, mostly issues involving jobs, jobs, and jobs. there's gabby giffords, the congresswoman from arizona, who was injured almost exactly a year ago, badly injured in a gun attack. the president going down and receiving some members of his cabinet, members of the joint chiefs of staff, leaders of congress right now. he'll be walking out of the chamber. i want to go around and get some initial thoughts from all of our correspondents and analysts. gloria borger, what do you think? >> i thought what the president gave us tonight was a laundry list of what he wants to do, that he thinks government can actually help with in terms of energy, education, manufacturing, and most important, what he did was he laid down a marker about tax reform, and he said that, if you make more than $1 million a year, wolf, you should not pay less than 30% in taxes. that stands in stark contrast to the news we heard about mitt romney and his great wealth and his 14% tax rate. laid down the marker. >> he obviously didn't mention mitt romney by name or anything, but that was obviously a point. john king, what do you think? >> no question the american people are going to have a very, very clear contrast this november on so many issues. the president defended his plan on trying to raise taxes on the rich. he defended more government spending to help the economy, keep teachers on payrolls, spend on infrastructure. he defended his health care law and defended the new financial regulations, the dodd-frank bill passed after the big meltdown of 2007/2008, saying he would not go back repeatedly, would not go back on policy. and he said on foreign policy america is back. he rebutted, anyone who says otherwise don't know what i'm talking about. look at the republican candidates running for president, you will hear just the opposite. the american people got a sense tonight of the very clear contrast they will have to decide between now and november. >> he definitely was referring to the republican presidential candidates when he said that anyone who says our influence has waned, they don't know what they're talking about. jessica yellin is over at the white house. i would say a pretty defiant president of the united states, jessica. >> defiant, and you heard him try to inoculate himself, wolf, against some of the attacks republicans will launch against him during the course of this campaign about the collapse of the housing market, about over this keystone xl pipeline that he didn't support, and over some of the job losses. he proposed a new housing program. he talked about the natural gas industry that he's propping up or that he plans to expand. and he emphasized that the actual oil industry, that it's expanded under him, which is something that i think you'll hear about when he's hitting the campaign trail. and then he emphasized the auto industry and how he has helped bolster that, a big, big message you'll hear him push in michigan. and then this theme about congress and emphasizing the ethics theme, something that he seemed to lecture congress on a bit there. it was a subtle way to sort of distance himself from congress without actually taking them to task while he's standing right in front of them tonight, wolf. >> dana bash inside the chamber as we see the president getting ready to leave. >> that's right. he's doing some gripping and grinning before he heads out. i just want to say this morning that john boehner told a few of us that he and most republicans and the president and most democrats are from different planets, and you definitely saw that tonight, just even in the dynamics of this room, the house chamber, the president making clear that his solution, for the most part, is to invest public money. every time he said that, you saw republicans basically sitting on their hands, stone cold, no applause at all. one thing i definitely want to point out, though, there was a very interesting dynamic when you're talking about bipartisanship, and that has to do with gabby giffords. she was sitting next to jeff lake, a republican congressman from her home state of arizona, every time she wanted to get up to demonstrate applause or to stand up with her fellow democrats, he helped her up. so many, many times, he was probably the only republican standing in the room because he was helping his fellow democrat stand up. ironically, if gabby giffords had not been shot, she might have been running for the u.s. senate against jeff flake. it was certainly a moment to watch over and over again as he helped her stand up. >> very emotional moment for all of us, everyone watching. david gergen, you served for four presidents, what do you think? what kind of grade would you give the president for this state of the union address? >> it was a politically shrewd speech, wolf, in the sense i think it will help mobilize the democrats, it will win over some independents. he successfully reframed the conversation after the republican debates. he had a very different take, a very different agenda has been suggested. far more government intervention to solve problems, far more spending. he moved away from talking about deficits that occupied our time so much. republicans are going to have, as john king said, there's a huge sharp contrast. i did think that, as on many occasions, if the speech had been 30% shorter, it would have been 30% more powerful. but bill clinton gave long state of the union addresses. they were very, very popular. we'll have to see. i may be wrong. >> we'll see. we're waiting the republican response from mitch daniels of indiana. you helped write several state of the union addresses. did this president need an editor to cut it down a little bit today? >> i'm weird this way. i loved it. particularly that conclusion, wolf. my goodness, that was worth staying for. it was really powerful. the whole tone was much more populist than this president has been, the idea that he relishes the idea of stepping up and being campaigner in chief. the thing that struck me, both in the beginning and the powerful conclusion talking about s.e.a.l. team six, was now how authentically and comfortably he holds the role as commander in chief. you see presidents when the troops salute him, and they don't know what to do. no longer. the president is very comfortable being commander in chief. politically, it was a great speech, but as a citizen, i loved seeing my commander in chief being that powerful. >> ari fleischer, you worked for president george w. bush, you served in congress, earlier you worked in congress. what did you think of that speech? >> wolf, there was hardly anything in the speech i liked. let me start with the one thing that i really liked and liked a lot. that was i salute the president, the courageous decision to authorize the mission to get bin laden. president obama deserves the credit for that, and he got it tonight. but the rest of it, it was his whole emphasis, his whole reason for being in government is to spend other people's money. to take those who have money and redistribute it to others who he feels should have the money instead. this is everything he seeks to do in the presidency. the poddy language, the motion, very little to nothing there on reducing the debt, very little to nothing on saving social security or on medicare, or as we're about to hear from mitch daniels on what mitch has called the red menace of debt. really just passing mentions. it wasn't the emphasis on his speech tonight. you get the sense what he really wants to talk about is how to spend more of other people's money on that program, on this program, because the federal government, through the creation of entitlements or more spending programs, knows how to do things better than everybody else. that's what i heard tonight. >> roland, a lot of those elements appealed to the democratic base. you saw them standing up and applauding enthusiastically. >> but it appeals to the american people. what the president basically said is congress, get your butt to work. paul is right. the close there was absolutely strong. any preacher would love to have that kind of close when he said it's the mission that matters. i'll tell you, ari, if you're out there, republican or democrat, and you're trying to keep your home, you like what the president had to say. if you're a republican or a democrat and you want your kids in college and you want that tax credit, you have no problem with what the president had to say. so i think -- this is not a question of, well, let's focus on the debt or whatever. this is a president saying, i'm speaking to the american people, and, congress, it's time for you to stop playing games and be like our military. be of one nation, one accord, let's move together. >> hold on, ari. i want to bring candy in for a second. a lot of the themes the president is going to be delivering the next many months leading up to november, we heard today. >> we did. this is the blueprint. you will hear bits and pieces of it as he moves forward. as a matter of fact, as he starts tomorrow, he's got a couple three days of campaigning or going out and talking to the american public, however you'd like to look at it. and you will hear these themes again, energy and education, moving forward for fairness. i thought the speech itself, there were certainly some things intended -- and jessica spoke of this -- intended to draw the sting from republicans. i thought one of the more interesting lines in it was about it's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom, no bailouts, no cop-outs. that addresses the fairness issue that republicans say is really about envy. i agree with paul and roland, i thought it was entirely interesting that he wrapped the entire economic speech at both ends beginning with the iraq war is over and ending with, oh, by the way, osama bin laden is dead. the truth is this president gets higher marks for his handling of foreign policy now than he does for his handling of the economy. i thought that was a very astute political move of him. >> ari fleischer, you wanted to make another point. >> roland's point about how the public will receive the speech, in 2008, the public loved barack obama's speeches. in 2009, they really liked them. in 2010, they liked them. in 2011, they didn't like them. now in 2012 the people have heard so much of this before, that the economy is bad, debt sky high, spending out of control, and unemployment is terrible. this is the big problem barack obama has in 2012. it goes beyond the beauty of words tonight and the fact of what he's done hasn't worked, and, in fact, it's aggravated a lot of the problems he has. >> wolf, can i please make a comment here? this is very simple of the i wasn't speaking about the speech. i speak about policy. i grew up in houston. it's an oil and gas city, oil and gas state. if you're a parent watching right now. you heard the president talk about policy talking ab