So how did the President really do last night explaining the State of the Union?
UW-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin says the President probably used the best approach he could Tuesday night. If he tried to deliver ambitious programs most, Franklin says, would have considered them dead on arrival because of the democratic controlled congress.
Energy independence, immigration, health care coverage and Iraq are all things Democrats want to address too. How they're addressed is where they part ways. But Franklin points out, the democrats have some public relations work to do too.
Most public opinion polls since November, according to Franklin, show the public just as skeptical that democrats have an Iraq exit strategy any more than the President does.