The Timing Of This Year's State Of The Union Could Make It One Of The Most Dramatic Of All Time
And because of the circumstances that will surround Obama's address, this year's State of the Union could be one of the most dramatic in recent history.
Specifically, the U.S. could hit its "X date" on the debt ceiling as soon as Feb. 15 — three days after Obama delivers his address to the joint session of Congress. The address could come in the midst of tense negotiations and squabbling among the branches of Congress and Obama about raising the debt ceiling and avoiding a default on U.S. credit.
(Side note: It could also be three days before Obama needs to decide on whether he wants to mint the platinum, trillion-dollar coin as a way to work around the ceiling.)
The address will also come about two weeks before the massive spending cuts in the sequester start to take effect, and negotiations will likely be underway to avert at least some of those cuts.
If things aren't going well in either negotiation, look for Obama to make good on his threat from the fiscal cliff talks. He said that he would use every opportunity — including the high-profile Inauguration speech and State of the Union address — to say that Republicans were at fault if talks broke down.