The State of the Union address

Early in every year the US president gives a "State of the Union" address to the Congress. This is a formal occasion and usually a long speech setting out what the president thinks needs to be done; basically, he's asking for Congress' cooperation with his agenda for the nation. President Obama gave this speech yesterday evening. Key points are summarized here, along with links to a full transcript and a video of the address. Andrew Sullivan, one of the bloggers included in your Google Reader "bundle," rounds up various reactions from other commentators here, and Talking Points Memo, another of your bundled sources, sent a reporter to watch the speech along with some "undocumented" (also called "illegal") immigrants, who were particularly interested in what Obama would say about the immigration issue since it could affect them directly. It's useful to be aware of this speech because it's one view of what the key issues in America currently are -- not the only view, of course, but for obvious reasons an influential one.