The way in should be that much more awkward, first state of the union in a republican led congress. He has been touring the country previewing this speech which should ship on Global Security and cuba relations and the big one, the economy. I think what the president is saying the middle class economics we pursued since 2009 have gotten us to where we are. Theres still yet work to be done and hell talk about it tonight. Dennis mcdonough confident the newly popularity has everything to do with economics and not plummeting gas prices. Kristen, whats at stake with this particular state of the union this year . Reporter well a lot is at stake. White house officials hope this will help frame the debate with the republicanled congress. As you pointed out, president obama has been criss crossing the country and unveiling policies hes going to talk about tonight ahead of time the strategy not only to frame the debate with congress but also allow the speech to be more about the story telling aspect and the story that president obama wants to tell hes going to argue that there has been a resurgence in the American Economy and hes em boldened by the figures were getting and the Unemployment Rate is at 5. 6 . It was at 7. 8 when he took office. The aprol rating is up 46 , thats its highest since october of 2013. Tonight youre going to hear him talk about all of that and focus on some of the policies which was unveiled over the weekend. His proposal to increase taxes on wealthy americans, to close the loophole for trust funds, for example, also to increase capital gains, all of that will go towards funding middle class priorities, things like two free years of Community College expanded paid sick leave, housing initiatives. President obama, this white house really hoping to get the upper hand here but of course ronan, those proposals will not go anywhere in a republican led congress. Its about laying the groundwork for 2016. Just a little bit of behind the scenes here a senior official says president obama thinks his speech is in very good shape, hes going to have dinner in the residence with the family before heading to the capitol to deliver his remarks tonight. Im told hell have trinkets in his pockets, objects given to him by people he has met on the road. One see yor officials saying these are items that remind him what hes fighting for. Everybody has got a good luck strategy. Thanks for that fascinating detail. President obama will face a nation increasingly happy with his performance it seems from the latest polls. The economy giving him a sizable bump in approval rating. Lets take a look at those numbers, 46 now approve of president obamas job, 48 disapprove. Its not all rosy those are good numbers but this is a less good one. Six in ten still believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction. We can only assume they became aware of courtney and chloe take the hamptons. Nevertheless, congress is perhaps the toughest and most important audience president obama will face tonight. Kelly odonnell is following congressional action and on the hill with that right now. Does it look like the president will dig in his heels tonight or is there going to be a large effort at reaching across the aisle here . Certainly the president always at least rhetorically does try to reach across the aisle. Its a different, smaller aisle to reach across. One of the most notable thing, larger number of republicans who will have seats in the chamber tonight. When they stand and when they applaud, youll see a greater dominance of the chamber just because of the elections. You gave us poll numbers there. That paint and creasingly good picture for the president. Republicans will want to look back to poll from november when they had pretty sweeping victories. Well also see tonight Speaker Boehner will be behind the president and see Mitch Mcconnell probably a lot of cutaway shots during the remarks. Harry reid wont be there tonight because hes still recovering from injuries from a home accident. But you will hear a note that might be different in some ways because so many policy ideas have been rolled out before. Republicans have had a chance to think about them. Democrats too. And theyll be poised to jump to their feet when the president is talking about income inequality and ways to make things more fair for middle income americans. There is certainly some agreement on wanting to see the middle class improve but how to get there will be very different. There are always great moments of theater and important policy that gets laid out during this address. Republicans will hopefully find ways they can be supportive of the president in that moment. Of course there will be ways they can show displeasure when they hear policy ideas they dont agree with. It will be interesting for everyone to see after the president laid out so many of the policies how will he make tonight fresh and interesting and compelling for the audience in the room which has to carry the ball on any legislation the president wants done. His executive actions of course have been a real issue with members on the republican side. They might have pushback in these ideas too. It will be fun to watch. You mentioned people showing displeasure, wouldnt be the state of the union if that didnt happen. Kelly odonnell, appreciate it. If washington has mastered one thing its turning everything and anything into partisan war fair. Even the vip guest list for the state of the union is shaping up to be a standoff. One big bone of contention is cuba. Alan gross has become a symbol of the president s plan to normalize relations with the island since he was released from a cuban prison last month. In response to that invitation, some top republicans, including marco rubio and Speaker John Boehner announced their state of the union guests cuban dissents who suffered because the castro regime. Charlie rangel was in cuba when the relations were was first announced. You came on last right after alan grosss release and told me youve never been prouder to be an american. How would you explain the president s plan to normalize relations . Loss family members to the castro regime . Its always under a communist regime and the question is how do we ease that pain what can we do . But the most important thing is this were not going to overthrow the communist government in cuba would involve in order for the world to get along easier. We have to have trade. To do this we have to insist that the cuban. Plenty who oppose this plan to normalize relations cuba improve human rights agenda. Well theres been plenty of dissent on the hill to that opinion, one of the lawmakers who opposes this plan ross layton has a guest, a woman who lost her father to the castro regime and she talked about that earlier today to my colleague. Listen to this. We should listen to the dissidents who say this is not the way to go about getting freedom and democracy on the aisle. The cuban military runs all of the tourism enterprise in cuba. Youre really feeding the monster is that o presses the people. Anything to that charge, that youre feeding the monster with this plan . Listen this congresswoman is one of the most sensitive, wonderful people in the United States congress. We have to feel pain for all of her losses. And all of the other cubanamericans that have really suffered as a result of some of the policies in cuba. And we have that no matter what country people come from. We have those type of stories. But the question is what are we going to do for the future not what weve done in the past and how can we change these things now. I dont think anyone can challenge that what the president has done is make it easier for republicans and democrats to get over the political hangup and that is the vote in florida and do what everyone knows, move towards normalization and make sure the cuban people have an opportunity to see what democracy can do. We see what its done in south korea. We have to make certain that we communicate with people and train with people. I was in cuba when the president announced the policy and most of the cubans were saying that theres two things they love about america, one, american movies two, every darn thing else. Lets take advantage of this friendship. Lets expand trade and let them see what democracy is really all about. Congressman Charlie Rangel very clear response to those on the hill making a statement against these normalization plans. Thank you so much. Dont forget to watch the state of the union, you cant live tweet if you dont watch. Well be live with our coverage starting at 8 00 p. M. Tonight eastern time right here on msnbc, hosted by our favorite tv couple, Rachel Maddow and chris matthews. Well look at one of the most controversial proposals planned for tonight, the robin hood style tax. One leading voice on the Senate Finance committee has a thing or so to say about it after these few moments of breathless aepgs. Health can change in a minute. So cvs health is changing healthcare. Making it more accessible and affordable with over 900 locations for walkin medical care. And more on the way. Minuteclinic. Another innovation from cvs health. Because health is everything. 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The fastest pencil sharpener. The fastest elevator. The fastest speed dial. The Fastest Office plant. So why wouldnt i choose the fastest wifi . I would. Switch to comcast business and get the fastest wifi with the most coverage. Comcast business. Built for business. This state of the union gives me an opportunity to present to the American People now that we have fought our way through the crisis how do we make sure that everybody in this country, how do we make sure that they are sharing in this growing economy . President obama not using the phrase growing the economy while striking a positive tone ahead of tonights state of the union. The president will put his money where his increasingly scandinavian sounding mouth is tonight, pushing new proposals to tax the wealthy to pay for new programs that help the middle class. So far so good on the economic front. Unemployment is down. The dow is up. Deficit has been cut by about 66 . In fact our new nbc news poll shows 49 of americans now approval of the president s handling of the economy. How does this new set of announcements going to sit with that trajectory joining us now, senator bob casey. Always a pleasure. How does that help the president make this sweeping case on raises taxes to certain parts of the American Population . Ronan, i think to a large extent what this does the Economic Data compared to where we were a couple of years ago, just imagine the First Six Months of the president s first term, because of what had happened prior to him coming into office 780,000 jobs lost each and every month. Almost staggering to consider that. So i think one thing he can say, the strategy that he put forth and that i voted for and others did, the recovery act, the strategy to cut payroll taxes at one point, for a twoyear period allowed the kind of job growth were seeing the kind of numbers now. I think theres some validation in that we have to focus on it. When we say we i mean both parties have to focus on the middle class and wages. But does the growing economy really give him a mandate on this or is this just down to Global Market forces one of the key changing issues here is gas prices, they have plummeted. The National Average is 2. 05. Its down from 3. 28 a year ago. Were all feeling that in our daytoday lives. How much of it is just down to that . I think its larger than that. But certainly gas prices help it puts more dollars in peoples pockets for sure. But i think the president appropriately is focused on what is what are we going to do together both parties, both branches of government for the middle class. If republicans rejengt cat gorically what he says tonight, i would hope they would come back with a counter proposal that focuses on the middle class. I want to do tax reform as much as anyone. But if your answer is going to be the president is totally wrong and we need to do tax reform we have to wait for a tax reform consensus before the middle class helps, i dont think that makes sense. We need to focus on families that have struggled. By one estimate ronan, back in the fall if you look at the data a lot of people believe this Great Recession we just got through not too long ago thrust the middle class families back to 1989 by one estimate, not just a couple of tough years. So youre on the finance committee. What would these new proposals look like if they are put in action. How does it change the lives of americans that it aims to help . Well have to closely examine the pay fors and the decisions that have to be made to finance any kind of tax cut for the middle class. That should be done in a collaborative fashion. What we dont need are cat gorical and frankly idealogical reactions of everything the president said. They have gotten pretty good at that over last number of years. Now they can show they can govern and help the president govern to focus on what i would hope would be and is the main priority of the democrats, which is helping the middle class and focusing on this terribly difficult problem of the terrible erosion of wages over the last generation. And lets talk about what actually could become a political reality. Last year the president proposed expanding the earned income tax credit for those without children. That never passed. What out of this new bundle of proposals can actually get through the current atmosphere on the hill . We dont know yet for sure. But the earned income tax credit is probably is not the best poverty reducer that we have in our tool box of ideas. Its one of the best. Thats something that i would certainly favor. But look the president this is the opening argument. Hes going to be proposal things that focus on the middle class. But im glad hes doing this. Im glad hes going down this path. Im glad that hes putting a sense of urgency behind this. Thats what we all need to bring to bear on this problem. I hear this back at home. Even though all of the data is better, people still dont have a sense that their own Economic Security is something that were concerned about and were working on. Senator casey, always a pleasure to have you here with us thank you. Thanks, ronan. Up next heres an interesting one, yes, theres a drinking game for the state of the union. We dont endorse such behavior but yes, its news. Well explain it to you. Also, remember were asking for your take going into tonights speech, what matters to you the most ahead of the speech . Your answers when we get past this breaks mere minutes of separation anxiety. Rma. Checking your credit score is for chumps. I have great credit. How do you know . Duh. You know those change, right . Tattoos dont change. Try credit karma. Its free and you can see what your score is right now. 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I wish i could find some relief. announcer ask your doctor about linzess a oncedaily capsule for adults with ibs with constipation or chronic idiopathic constipation. Linzess is thought to help calm painsensing nerves and accelerate bowel movements. It helps you proactively manage your symptoms. Do not give linzess to children under 6, and it should not be given to children 6 to 17. It may harm them. Dont take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. Get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain especially with bloody or black stools. The most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. If its severe stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. Other side effects include, gas, stomacharea pain and swelling. Bottom line, ask your doctor about linzess today. Welcome back president obama will be vying for your affections tonight and we vi for your affections every day. Well get your take go into the speech. Weve been asking what matters most this state of the union. You can weigh in and weve teamed up with bing pulse, still a thing for a spectacular Realtime Tracking exercise and craig melvin has been monitoring it for us. Our fair gentle viewers, heres the thing about this ronan, were asking folks on pulse.