President Obama is prepping to test the power of his prose against a pretty tough crowd tonight --Congress. The president is following the longstanding Oval Office tradition of giving a Month One performance report of sorts in front of a joint session of the House and Senate. 

So what's on tap? Obama is expected to touch on some of his early successes (getting his $787 billion stimulus package passed and expanding SCHIP, for starters), issue more insight into the dire state of the economy and map out his future plans for getting the country on the right track. Sounds kind of like a State of the Union address.... right? 

Not exactly. Apparently Obama's address, which will in fact outline the state of the union in many respects, is anything but. Why? Well, as NPR's Ken Rudin so eloquently put it: Because he said so. 

There's no Constitutional requirement as to when or how often a president should or must give a State of the Union address -- the nation's founders simply thought it would be a good idea for the commander in chief to give a presidential progress report "from time to time." And it's up to the president to decide when that time is. (CQ Politics' Bob Beneson has a roundup of what presidents past plugged from in their pulpit of power in front of Congress.)

Early predictors were betting the tone would be be sober (at best). But the White House has released excerpts that suggest the speech will seek to strike a balance between Obama's trademark theme of hope and a realistic assessment of the troubling times we're in. The address itself is expected to focus by and large on the economy -- good thing, since polling and the general pulse of the nation suggest thats what the majority of Americans want to hear about -- the narrow focus of the address is probably the reason for the semantic shift from "State of the Union" to a simple address, a chat with Congress and the nation, if you will. Because a "State of the Union" is like an annual check-up of sorts, touching upon all aspects of the nation's health, this one-topic talk is a diagnosis with a specialist. So while the "State of the Union" is issued by Obama the friendly family physician, tonight Obama is taking the role tonight of a probing specialist (A Dr. House, perhaps?) ready to diagnose the country's ailments sand offer up a prescription for better economic health.

Obama's main challenge is continuing to sell to the public and his peers in Congress that his economy stimulating strategy is going to work. He's doing a good job with the public -- a new Washington-Post/ABC News poll found that 68 percent of respondents approve of how Obama is handling his presidential duties. For reference, the only other president who has entered the end of the first month with marks that high according to WaPo/ABC polling data is GOP posterchild Ronald Reagan, who also finished month one with 68 percent approval ratings. Furthermore, 7 in 10 poll respondents said Obama is delivering on his campaign promise of bringing change to Washington and 8 in 10 say the president is either meeting or exceeding their expectations. Not too shabby...

So what with all this talk of bipartisanship backfiring? In the grand political arena, it's clear Obama's olive branch was snapped by Republican leaders. Congressional Republicans issued a resounding, and well-coordinated, "nay" against the stimulus plan, Republican governors, including some highly probable candidates for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, are claiming they will reject funds left and right, and the RNC's head honcho Michael Steele is threatening to reprimand rogue Republicans who support Obama's plans by withholding his precious fundraising dollars from their campaign coffers.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will deliver the Republicans' rebuttal to Obama's talk. Jindal, a young, reform-minded Catholic who broke racial barriers by becoming the first minotrity elected as governor of the Bayou State since Reconstruction, has quickly risen to "rising star" status in within his Party. He spent the weekend in Washington warming up for his prime-time debut by delivering some political punches to the White House, calling Obama's handling of the economic crisis "irresponsible." Obama shot back, advising Jindal to put the prosperity of the country ahead of his own political ambitions. Don't expect the stimulus shadowboxing to stop anytime soon -- Jindal's looking for some high-profile preening to prep for a possible White House run in 2012. As for tonight, Jindal is all revved up to accuse Obama the optimist of being too pessimistic. 

The GOP's group disdain of all things Obama is rubbing off on its base -- the percentage of Republicans who approve of Obama's job performance has plummeted to 37 percent, down from 62 percent who approved of his job process during the transition. But the partisan bickering isn't exactly paying off in the public's eyes. The approval ratings for Democrats and Republicans in Congress are distinctly lower -- 50 percent and 38 percent respectively -- though Congress, with its convoluted and complicated procedural roadblocks, is known for its notoriously low public approval ratings. Whether the GOP's efforts to cockblock Obama's courting of the American public pays off in the midterm election is yet to be seen, but they've certainly shown they're not planning on giving up any time soon. 

And, of course, this wouldn't be 21st Century politics if Obama's first address to Congress wasn't at least a little bit interactive.

The networks have the usual suspects poised and ready to dish their oh-so-original anaylsis and super-scripted talking points. 

Facebook and CNN are hosting a live viewing of the broadcast, but social networking is so 2007. Following the latest tech trends, the MSM is continuing its obsession with all things Twitter. ABC and NPR are teaming up with Twitter to stream dialogue between their talking heads and tweeters across the country. Looking to REALLY make the speech an interactive and electrifying experience? Wonkette has applied young America's favorite pastime to Obama's progress report: drinking games. With instructions to take a big slurp whenever phrases like "challenging times" and "politics as usual" ring across the airwaves, watching with Wonkette is sure to guarantee a good time.