President from time to time shall give Congress Information on the state of the union. That time is now. It is the biggest night of the year in american politics. Tens of millions of americans expected to tune in tonight to see what president obama has to say and what will be his first state of the union before congress in which both the house and the senate are controlled by the opposite party with big majorities. Since the election the republicans won all of those seats in Congress President obama has newfound eagerness maybe even glee in getting stuff done. We are expecting to hear more tonight about what the president might have up his sleeve. I agree with that. I believe the president holds the edge tonight. He can set the course for those who think and feel about the country the way that he does. He can and will say that through executive action or with the help of the republican majority in the congress or what he would like his successor to do. He can do this. As stuck as they are with allies on the hard right, renegades like the bomb throwing ted cruz. They were so far out they could not even vote boehner speaker again. In a prime time moment when so many people in this country are actually watching. And obama has the edge tonight. He can say what he thinks and wants for this country. Were here with reverend al sharpton and chris heyayes. And steve is at his terrifying wall of lights tonight. I know you have been crunching numbers. I will stick with big board, the answer about where the president stands right now is he had something he has not had in a long time. Its tentative momentum. It raises the stakes for what he has to say tonight. The approval rating. Just out today, 46 approve, 48 disapprove. The significance is this is the best the president has done in this question for object of 2013. That was the height of the government shut down. If there is something driving this, more than anything else it was this question asked in the poll today. People were asked assess the state of the economy. Are you satisfied or dissatisfied. More people are dissatisfied than satisfied. Here is the significance. This is the highest this number has been president the highest of the dissatisfied number since the middle of george w. Bushs presidency. You have to back to 2006. Maybe the president s numbers are improving. We asked people in this poll the most urgent priorities for 2015. What should they do above all else . . Creating jobs defeating isis deficit reduction, more security for the border. And dealing with Irans Nuclear program. Thats what people say should be addressed bf and above everything else. If you look at the rest of the list, a lot of the president s priorities here. They may be popular individually. Reducing income inequality. Raising minimum wage addressing Climate Change closing guantanamo. People may like these in concept, but when you ask them what congress and washington should be doing, its not as much as a priority. When we get to this idea of fragile momentum. He announced diplomatic relations with cuba that was very popular. Here is one of the first decisions he will face with the new congress. Should they move forward on the Keystone Pipeline . He will probably veto it. When the president begins speaking about an hour from now,ly ask you to long on to pulse. Msnbc. Com and you can a assess how he is doing as he speaks. We will track it on the screen as the state of the union progresses. That was great analysis but i would have used the abc poll that has him at 50 . We have our panel joining us right now. Chris hayes, casey sharp, and al sharpton. He is a special edition. He steals your paper. My brain is still okay. Heading into this tonight, guys looking at those numbers that steve was just putting out there, the one that strikes me is the two to one approval for cuba. I would stop talking if i was the republicans, chris. Yeah the republicans they have a certain constituency that hates this policy. There is a few republicans tonight including john boehner and marco rubio. They despise this change in policy. And it took i think the president entering that final two years when he was sort of out past concerns about these constituency groups. He was offending people unnecessarily because he was focussed on the priorities. And i think there is a lot of stuff like that that he can do. I think whether it is climate or immigration, its been working for him. Why do they go for depleting assets . Why didnt they pick up like the Democratic Party. What they used to do they pick up. They will become more and more open to going back to cuba and finding a way to guess around with that country. Thats no future for the republicans. They are still living in a time that is gone. Theyre watching cozi and were in 2015. I think when you look at these numbers, that when you see the overwhelming majority of americans concerned about jobs and this president can point to job creation this congress has blocked the private sector jobs. Imagine if we have infrastructure for our jobs bill where we would be looking. He comes into it with momentum but he comes in with a track record. If he plays off of that he is set an agenda that will be very difficult for them to come out of here tonight. You look at what the president has moved on as president since the election. Its Climate Change immigration, cuba. I wonder casey, those are all difference changes. They could divide the Republican Party. Some republicans could be divided off. First, this is a president that has been freed, right . He doesnt have a bunch of democrats in the senate from southern states. He is a lot more free to do what he wants without consequences on his side. On the flip side were already seeing so much of the 2016 president ial election playout. Suddenly in the senate the shoe is on the other put it. Mitch mick continuecconnell is worried about facing senators in blue states. The defining question for all of american politics right now is does the trajectory look like reagan and clinton or george w. Bush. The jobs numbers turned around its able possible to have a reagan trajectory. It is night and day for what gets done and what happens in 2016. You should serve the good wine last. We usually turn our water to wine. Lets bring in senator Amy Klobuchar. She was just added as the chair of the Democratic Party. You have always been sort of a upbeat person. Tonight might be the best night for you to talk . I think this is a new white house. I think the president is energized and every time he did one of these things that had to be done the immigration action or what he did with cuba people predicted he was going to tank. Look at his numbers here. He is at his highest approval in at least a year or more and it really is because of the fact that i think he is acting energized energized, and moving forward. I would not be here today if my dad had not been able to get me a college degree. My sister didnt get a High School Degree and she went on to a Community College and got her g. E. D. And is now an accountant. I think the fact that he is focusing on things not just the fact that we have seen an improved economy, we know that. Senator klobuchar, no one is expecting great economic achievement for this president and a Republican Controlled Congress. There wasnt a lot of legislative achievement before. How are democrats in the senate going to approach these next two years . Do you think there is stuff that you will get done . Are you essentially going to be doing block books maneuvers and defense. I think it will be a combination. I truly believe there are things we can move forward on. One of them reverend sharpton just mentioned and that is infrastructure. There is big republican support for moving on infrastructure. We have to get some ideas for how to do it. Some republicans are willing to talk about the fact that we have to make it easier for kids to go to college. The chamber of commerce has one of their pop priorities, im graduation reform. I think there can be movement on some of these bills. There will also be a lot of defense. Also offense, putting these new details out there. It doesnt mean theyre not right for the long term. We have to start thinking the long game. We are no longer governing from a crisis. A lot of the policies are good businesses, good workers, we have to seize those opportunities. Are you surprised that he is asking for a declaration of war against isis are you confident voting for that . We like to see what were voting on. We would like to see a authorization of force. I think we have to have a real debate. I want to hear what the president has to say today, but i think it is very important. I think we have to have this debate, get the language right, and move forward. There has to be limitations. Senator Amy Klobuchar joining us, have a good night tonight. Now were being joined by jose its good to see you. What i want to ask you about tonight is you have been so acute on the issue of not just immigration policy but immigration politics and how the issue of immigration, the wrangling around immigration resonates in our politics. One of the huge issues tonight is that the department of Homeland Security is not funded. Its funded for a couple more weeks, republicans are withholding because they are so mad about immigration. Will we hear about that tonight . It is a fundamental issue and it runs out in february. And it is interesting just to think when the elections are held last november and from then to now, how the entire discussion that this country has been having has been set by the white house. Think about it, we talked about that. The issue for example of cuba. The issue of Immigration Reform. I see it very difficult for the republicans to do anything in the house and senate that can bring some Immigration Reform maybe in this legislative session even though there is some in the house, republicans are saying theyre going to start over again and see if they can get something done on Immigration Reform. It just seems as though what they can do even they have do is get together and agree to defund d. A. C. A. It has been successful and apreachuated by many. What is it exactly that the Republican Party is going to do on these issues that have a direct impact on 2016. Jose i appreciate it. Coming up next were going to have a look at what were told will be the Largest Scale proposal that the president will be making tonight. Were giving a lot of preview about what he might be talking about tonight. The single largest thing he is going to suggest and why the republicans are howling about it. I we are not lull d by the momentary calm of the sea or the clear skies above. We know the turbulence that lies below and the storms that are beyond the horizon this year. But now the winds of change appear to be blowing more strongly than ever. In the world of communism as well as our own. You know. Theres a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. Try phillips fiber good gummies. Theyre delicious and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. Mmmm. These are good the tasty side of fiber. From phillips our eyes they have a 200degree range of sight. Which is good for me. Hey and bad for the barkley twins. Your brain can send information to the rest of your body at 268 mph. Three times the speed of a fastball. Take care of your most important parts with centrum. Multivitamins expertly designed with nutrients people dont get enough of from food alone. Centrum. For the most important parts of you. Today, after four years of Economic Growth corporate professes and stock prices have rarely been higher. Those at the top have never done better. By average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepenned. Upward mobility has stalled. The cold hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery too Many Americans are worked too hard just to get by. Were just 40 minutes away from the president s sixth state of the union address. Throwing that out in the senate where the time is controlled by the republicans, the bill will be written by them all of the amendment process, and you have menendez who has been a hawk on the chair of the Foreign Relations committee. How does he prevent it from becoming a hawkish resolution. The biggest problem with iron is there is a democratic and republican support. It will completely blow up the talk. So all of those talks, youre absolutely right. The other thing i think will be a credibility problem tonight. They will say he made progress against iraq and syria. It is hard to see what the progress has been against isis in syria for sure and in iraq. He will say there is a government in iraq and a more secular government in iraq. A more inclusive government in iraq. But to claim progress against terrorism, with whats happening in yemen today, it is hard. Is this an attempt to shame the republicans from what looks to be their effort to try to reduce taxes for the wealthy and for corporations. It does feel like more of a campaign frame. This is also a sexual issue. Yes, there is i think politics behind it. You certainly know where the democrats and president obama who has a fairly united party with the idea of using the tax code to fix some of this inequality issue, probably more of a nonstarter than people think. I want to pick up one thing on the war authorization. I think there is real trust between the president and the new chairman of the Foreign RelationsCommittee Bob corker. I think theyre more comfortable writing a resolution with bob corker than bob menendez. Thats right, menendez is more hawkish than the president. Yes, and bob corker from tennessee, he has been very much somebody that the white house spends a lot of time with. On National Security issues he is more helpful behind the scenes. Sometimes he is pretty critical. The white house feel he is someone that can work with. They want to rewrite the war authorization in general. I think they can work with corker in a way that they think they could not have worked as well with menendez. I should mention that were watching right now, were told the president is just about to leave. It has been months and months and months, plm halfalmost half a year since the strike in isis and syria. There has been all of this talk about talking about doing a authorization. Should we see the fact that this is going to be in the state of the union as an account of furtherance . And something might just happen . You know its funny and by bringing up a authorization, doesnt that lead you to believe that theyre concerned that they dont necessarily have authorization to do this . Maybe the white house is concerned that what theyre doing might not past constitutional muster. That said they do believe that the current war authorization from 01 and 02 giving them the legal right. Put it this way, we had a close aide of the president say one of the big if they know it has been a successful year legislatively if they have a new war authorization. This is a priority for them. I should point out that this iron issue is heard. You saw what happened when david cameron, the british Prime Minister here they lobbied congress lobbying senators not to blow up the iran nuclear talks. There has been progress that iran has frozen its Nuclear Program and they could then break out as quickly as the talks go. Thank you for being with us. It is a great night. Well see you later. One of the things that is always good and weird to know about these big nights is who the designated survivor is. They pick one member of the cabinet, hold them away from tonights speech in a secure undisclosed location in the event that there is a catastrophic attack. Tonight the designated survivor is transportation secretary anthony fox. We had the Energy Secretary two years in a row, and i thought what does that mean . They could not hold two or three of them . It seems like a rough job. They hold a few people out, and the sergeant at arms keeps it a secret. We have two people that have worked at high levels in president ial campaigns. Gentleman, thank you both for being here. Good to be with you. Robert i want to go to something that is the scuttlebutt in washington since the election. Its the idea that obama will basically be giving his speech tonight to Hillary Clinton. That he is trying to set the options for the democratic debates that come after his presidency, is that fair . I think there is tonight a battle of ideas that will take us all of the way through the 2016 campaign. I think it will be gersing to see tonight if republicans in their response move from criticizing the president to things they would like to do not just because theyre in charge but if they controlled off of the government. In terms of that republican response tonight steve, i have to put it to you tonight that there are five republican responses planned tonight to the state of the union. There is the republican response, the Spanish Language response, the Tea Party Response, the rand paul response, and the ted cruz response. Is that a good sign for the Republican Party . I dont think it matters much. Were about a year out from the New Hampshire primary. There is three proponents to the speech tonight. Chief amongst them is tax proposals. This is about starting a political debate. He will use executive orders of the president to announce some policy actions. Republicans will disaagree with them but they will be impotent to do anything about them. There is a third important part of the speech which i hope will be the beginning of initiating a debate about the global jihad were seeing play out across yurt and across the middle east. About americas force in the middle east and in idea and it is time for congress to have this debate. I think the bringing it up these are going to be the most important parts of the speech. There will certainly be republican important to work with the president , to