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In his third State of the Union speech last night President Obama articulated a vision for an improved economy, seeking to reclaim control over the Republican narrative that places blame for high unemployment solely at his feet. In an address that Reuters called populist, the President promoted the so-called Buffet Rule, a tax reform that would end tax breaks that benefit the richest Americans. Earlier in the day GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney released his personal tax records, unwittingly underscoring the need for a revamped tax system. Romney and his wife paid a 15.4% tax on millions of dollars of income, including dividends, in 2011, about half of what a wage earner taxed at the highest rate of 35% paid in the same year.

In his State of the Union address, largely seen as the President’s first national campaign speech for reelection, Obama also called for increased job training for millions of Americans, help for home owners seeking to refinance their homes, and the establishment of several new government agencies: a special federal unit to investigate abusive lending practices that led to the housing crisis, a financial crimes unit to prosecute investment fraud, and a trade enforcement unit to “investigate unfair trading practices.” The President also reiterated his strategy for immigration reform, in effect asking Republicans to work with him in exchange for the enforcement crackdown his administration has led. Obama made a brief mention of government safety net programs, repeating his desire to reform them to “rein in the long-term costs of Medicare and Medicaid, and strengthen Social Security, so long as those programs remain a guarantee of security for seniors.”

The President, after his address, spent time online answering questions from the public. Meanwhile, Republicans prepared and released in advance of the speech, a minute long video parodying as a trailer for a fake movie called 1000 Days Without a Budget, and pointing people to a web address where they also took online questions. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels relayed the official GOP response to the address. Activists with Occupy DC also gave their response in McPherson Square calling it the “state of the 99 percent.”

GUEST: Roberto Lovato, Writer with New America Media, Co-Founder of Presente.org, and Uprising Election Analyst