President Obama delivered his State of the Union address.

Julian E. Zelizer
Special to CNN

In his first year in the White House, President Obama has proved to be an elusive figure. This is ironic given that his campaign to win the Democratic primary in 2007 and 2008 had been premised on the idea that voters preferred a candidate who stood for something.

For one thing, he distinguished himself from Sen. Hillary Clinton by highlighting the fact that he had been against the Iraq War from the start and never wavered in his position.

Yet in 2010, many Democrats, as well as Republicans, are unsure of who President Obama is and what exactly he stands for.

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President Obama speaks at a press conference.

Eli Saslow
Washington Post

President Obama's 165th flight on Air Force One required all the customary protocols of a presidential trip. He took a helicopter from the White House lawn to Andrews Air Force Base, where seven military officers waited at full attention. He entered his plane through a door decorated by the presidential seal and settled into a suite that includes an office and a conference room. After a short flight, he exited to cheers from a greeting party before disappearing into a limousine that cruised down the barricaded streets of this New Hampshire city.

When Obama arrived here Tuesday afternoon, he stopped at a suburban industrial park to visit a machinery company. Snipers surveyed from the roof. Secret Service agents monitored the warehouse. A 19-car motorcade idled outside. Obama, meanwhile, stood on the gray concrete floor with the company's employees, studying their manufacturing materials and trying to convey his new favorite message: He understands the problems of what he calls "everyday Americans."

Obama has made it his goal in the past 10 days to convince them otherwise. In Nashua, he hoped to connect with the unemployed despite holding the country's most prestigious job; to disparage Washington politics despite being a product of them; to have a self-described "direct conversation with the folks of New Hampshire" even as bomb squads, Secret Service officers, political dignitaries and television cameras occupied every corner of the room.

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Obama administration reconsidering plan to try 9/11 defendants in New York City.

David Frum
CNN Contributor

It took the United States government 18 months to capture Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - and seven years to figure out what to do with him.

The Bush administration wanted to try the organizer of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks before a military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay. The Obama administration rejected that plan and decided instead on a civilian trial in federal court in lower Manhattan.

Whoops.

New York officials balked: The trial would snarl traffic, impose huge security costs on the city and incentivize terrorists to strike again while world media were conveniently concentrated on the spot.
The public balked too. Even in liberal Massachusetts, voters have rallied to the Republican anti-trial message. Scott Brown's campaign hammered the theme: "Our tax dollars should pay for weapons to stop terrorists, not lawyers to defend them."

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Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer

Lot’s of ground to cover today: a massive car and truck recall, the latest must-have gadget, a Fed meeting, and what is arguably the most important address of President Obama’s short time in office. So let’s take it all I order of occurrence.

First up, Toyota said late Tuesday it is asking dealers to suspend sales of eight models, and is halting production of those models, after a recall to correct a problem that could cause the gas pedal to stick.

About 2.3 million vehicles will be affected by the recall. That's about 500,000 more vehicles than Toyota sold in all of 2009.

In issuing the recall, the automaker said it had not yet found a way to fix the problem, but wanted owners to be aware of the potential issue.

The recall affects Toyota's 2009-2010 RAV4, Corolla and Matrix; 2005-2010 Avalon; certain 2007-2010 Camrys; 2010 Highlander; 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia (click here for what to do if your car is on the list).

Toyota owners with questions should call Toyota's customer service line at 800-331-4331.

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Mark Halperin
Time

Giving a transformational presidential speech while trapped in politically toxic quicksand is no easy task. And as he mounts the rostrum in the House of Representatives' chamber Wednesday night, the forces arrayed against Barack Obama — both real and those conjured by the politico-media maelstrom — are fierce.

Liberals (in the blogosphere, at the grassroots, and in Congress) complain that the President is a spineless, incompetent quitter. Conservatives (on Fox News Channel and talk radio, at Tea Party confabs, and in Congress) insist he is a panicky, on-the-run liberal. The Old Media sputters that he is a flailing, directionless Jimmy Carter redux.

In just over a year, Obama has gone from a hopemonger destined to change America and revitalize the Democratic Party to a foundering President — from a man determined to bring America's best values to a capital gone bad to a man who has reinforced everything the country hates about government and politics.

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President Obama has faced tough criticism for his handling of the economy.

CNN

Hours away from what is arguably the most important address of his short presidency, President Obama will huddle with his top speechwriters to go over the latest revisions to his State of the Union address, according to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

Later Wednesday, Gibbs said, the president will get behind a podium to practice for his 9 p.m. address to the nation.

Aides say the speech will focus on job creation, helping the middle class, fighting the deficit and health care reform. But Gibbs said the president will also take responsibility for the political climate that has left a lot of Americans angry and frustrated, and he will express disappointment at how difficult it is to change the way Washington works.

Obama's first State of the Union address comes against a backdrop of an American people nervous about the pace of economic recovery.

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President Obama is expected to ask for an increase in federal education spending during Wednesday's State of the Union.

Ed Henry | BIO
CNN Senior White House Correspondent

Despite a heavy focus on fiscal discipline in his first State of the Union address, President Obama will announce an increase of up to $4 billion in federal education spending, according to senior administration officials familiar with the speech.

A big chunk of that boost will be an increase of $1.35 billion for Obama's signature "Race to the Top" grant program, aimed at sparking innovation in schools across the country, the officials said.

An additional $1 billion will be targeted at overhauling the No Child Left Behind Act, former President George W. Bush's signature program, which has come under criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle.

The budget plan will "improve outcomes for students at every point along the educational pipeline," and will include attempts to squeeze out some savings, one of the senior administration officials said.

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Obama gives State of the Union address Wednesday under pressure to change direction

Fareed Zakaria | BIO
CNN Anchor, “Fareed Zakaria – GPS”

President Obama can get his administration back on track by rethinking health care reform and putting his focus squarely on boosting the economy, says analyst Fareed Zakaria.

As the president prepares to deliver his first State of the Union address Wednesday night, many pundits are urging him to relaunch his presidency with a sharp change in direction. But Zakaria says the changes don't need to be dramatic.

Zakaria told CNN, "The big problem is that there is a sense that he lost focus on the economy and focused too much on health care. He focused too much on the spending side of the economy, that's to say, the pork in the stimulus bill, the expanded coverage in health care, and not enough on being a careful steward of the public's money.

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Ed Hornick
CNN

President Obama's State of the Union speech on Wednesday will be a tough sell for millions of Americans struggling under the weight of an economic recession, political analysts said.

"The president will respond as he always does to emergencies: with a speech. In this case, it's his State of the Union address," said David Frum, a CNN contributor and former speechwriter to President George W. Bush. "The Obama team always assumes the best remedy for any Obama difficulty is more Obama."

Frum said Obama's new populist tone, which he said emerged after the Democrats' surprising loss in the Massachusetts special Senate election - might work short-term if he uses it in Wednesday's speech, but it won't work over the long haul.

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Julian Zelizer says that, since the Massachusetts vote, Obama has seemed to move toward the center.

Julian E. Zelizer
Special to CNN

In the week since Republican Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts, President Obama has shown signs that he is preparing to move further to America's political center.

In many respects, Obama has reached a fork in the road and must decide whether he plans to veer to the center at the expense of his increasingly discontented liberal base.

We won't know the full outlines of the president's new approach until his State of the Union address on Wednesday. But there are strong indications: He will propose a three-year freeze on discretionary spending in most government agencies and, over the weekend, he endorsed the idea of creating a commission to make recommendations for reducing the budget deficit.

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