The president gave a wide-ranging State of the Union address. (Robert Couse-Baker/Flickr)

Michael Juliani:

President Obama expanded on the pitch he used throughout the 2012 campaign in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, harping on the importance of expanding and nurturing opportunities for the middle class.

He tucked discussions of international drone strikes and new laws regarding cyber-security neatly into this rhetoric.

"No one should just take my word for it that we're doing things the right way," the president said, referring to the drone strike kill list that made recent headlines. But can we expect that the administration will pass all decisions regarding drone strikes through a Congress that rarely provides timely or effective decisions to anything? I think it's more likely we'll be hearing about "necessary preemptive strikes" that required "immediate action and secrecy," despite the State of the Union address' rhetorical promises.

Obama said he passed new legislation today that will protect against cyber attacks that have apparently plagued national security. Obama has a poor record when it comes to civil liberties, signing into law the National Defense Authorization Act, which allows the government many freedoms in detaining potential suspects. The president provided flimsy context in his speech for why this new legislation is necessary.

With poignant displays regarding gun violence and the value of middle class diligence, President Obama proved once again to be more than a capable rhetorician. He's even sounding more liberal now, invoking the word "gay" in two straight national addresses.

But unless Americans capably read through the lines, it's possible that Obama's second term could mean greater infringement on international and national civil liberties.

Matt Pressberg:

President Obama never again has to court swing voters in a national election, and took advantage of that liberty to give one of his most progressive speeches yet.

He proposed universal preschool and a $9 per hour minimum wage and closed his speech by reminding us all that “this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations.” All in all, basically a final rebuttal to the defeated Romney campaign.

The president provided an expansive and imaginative (if opaquely priced) menu of policy ideas with the above in mind. Fixing 70,000 bridges and upgrading more of our tired infrastructure (with a shout out to high-speed rail, something future Californians will wonder how they ever lived without) and redesigning secondary education for the digital age are the type of big government investments with long lifecycles that are easy for constantly campaigning members of Congress to bail on. The president is freer than ever to advocate for such things; the Capitol is less so to act on them.

The biggest nod to the future, and one of the stronger parts of the speech altogether, was the president’s spotlight on climate change and energy policy. He basically called climate-change deniers people who choose to believe in ghosts over scientific consensus and advocated for cap-and-trade and a government-managed trust account for profits from oil and gas drilled by private companies on public lands. The president also said he’s willing to issue executive orders if Congress doesn’t act right on energy.

America has a lot of natural gas, which is cleaner than oil and coal and can provide a bridge between dirty fuels and a future where solar, wind and geothermal energy provide more than a token amount of what we need. If we don’t drill for oil and gas, poor people don’t eat, so we have to keep doing it (and create jobs) while working diligently on an exit strategy. It’s sort of the Nicorette gum energy policy, which is fitting for Obama.

This was a boldly liberal speech but not a bombastic one. Change isn’t about jarring shifts, it’s about easing the transition to a drastically different end. President Obama has always wanted to be free of today’s imminent crises to be able to focus on the future. His challenge is that Congress is always looking over its shoulder.

Read more of Neon Tommy’s coverage of the State of the Union here.

Reach Senior News Editor Michael Juliani here.

Reach Editor-at-Large Matt Pressberg here.