The State of the Union in Bite-Size Pieces

Key phrase of the night

"I never suggested that change would be easy, or that I could do it alone."

By the numbers:

• 0number of times someone shouted "You lie!"

• 15
  number of thank-yous Obama made prior to starting the speech
• 97
  number of hand-claps we counted during the State of the Union
• 18
  number of heckles/boos we counted; only a couple were major

Obama's main points:

• » Big bailouts out, small business in. Obama sounded like a modern-day Robin Hood taking on business, offering up benefits for small business (including tough-to-acquire credit) at the cost of the corporations he helped bail out. "We all hated the bank bailout," he said. "I hated it, you hated it. It was about as popular as a root canal."
• » Energizing the crowd. The words "nuclear power" got members of congress excited, but overall, Obama wants to work hard to encourage green energy, because that's where the jobs are -- whether or not you believe in global warming (as he pointed out).
• » Education is key. Obama called education "the best anti-poverty program around," and wants to ease student loan burdens and make community colleges easier to afford.
• » There's an exit strategy. In both Iraq, which we're in the midst of leaving, and Afghanistan, where thousands more troops are headed, he vowed that we don't plan on staying forever.
• » Gays in the military. The president plans to push for the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." That should be a crowd pleaser for the gay community, which had issues with Obama's slow progress on gay rights last year.

Superlatives:

• Biggest shot in the arm
  His reminder to Senate Democrats not to back down after losing their 60th vote in Scott Brown's surprise Massachusetts win. After a week and a half of crying in locked rooms and saying "woe is me," it was exactly what was needed.
• Biggest disappointment
  Obama admitted that the three-year partial budget freeze wouldn't take place until 2011, which drew big boos from many. "It's the way budgets work," he claimed. He wasn't upfront about this in his speech, which was pretty bad form.
• Most amusing moments
  There were two; Obama's bringing up the Supreme Court decision on campaign finance reform to utter blankness on the part of the court; and Michelle Obama's obvious desire to not be there. You could totally read her face!

The Republican response:

• New Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell bucked the trend of years of Democratic governors with his November victory, and his response, while very broad, definitely drew cheers. The important thing is, while he didn't exactly amaze, he didn't embarrass himself either. That's an upgrade from the wooden Bobby Jindal last year.

• 14
  number of cheers the governor got for his speech
• 0
  number of jeers he got; he was on friendly ground

• The good
  Having an audience of regular people. Unlike last year's weak response by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, it made McDonnell seem more alive and visually engaging. It worked.
• The bad
  The Obama administration often gets criticized for being short on specifics. McDonnell's response, which emphasized security and fiscal responsibility, was pretty short, too.
• Key quote
  "Today, the federal government is simply trying to do too much." Sure, it's exactly the point that every other Republican is making, and it's his key point, too. No brownie points lost.