The President said the October 2013 shutdown of the government stopped basic democracy from taking place.

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"The question for everyone in this chamber, running through every decision we make this year, is whether we are going to help or hinder this progress. For several years now, this town has been consumed by a rancorous argument over the proper size of the federal government. It’s an important debate – one that dates back to our very founding. But when that debate prevents us from carrying out even the most basic functions of our democracy – when our differences shut down government or threaten the full faith and credit of the United States – then we are not doing right by the American people."

The president said it would be hard to look future generations in the eye if we did not do more to stop climate change. The comment drew applause from Democrats and mostly muted reactions from Republicans.

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The president mentioning his signature health care law drew some laughs from the the room at the State of the Union speech Tuesday night.

"One last point on financial security. For decades, few things exposed hard-working families to economic hardship more than a broken health care system. And in case you haven’t heard, we’re in the process of fixing that."

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The president promises to act because Congress won’t, but he also really wants Congress to act in his fifth State of the Union address.

The U.S. Capitol building is seen before U.S. President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address in front of the U.S. Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington Jan. 28, 2014.

Jim Bourg / Reuters

WASHINGTON — President Obama renewed a push for new immigration laws and a slate of economic proposals meant to assist lower-income and working-class families — but didn't introduce sweeping legislative proposals Tuesday in his fifth State of the Union address.

Instead, Obama laid out his plan to work around the divided legislative branch that has dashed many of his legislative goals over the past five years.

"America does not stand still — and neither will I," Obama said in the speech. "So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do."

To Congress, Obama argued for the restart of unemployment benefits and an increase to the federal minimum wage — something Democrats have said they will make a priority in 2014 — highlighting individuals affected by the measures.

"This Congress needs to restore the unemployment insurance you just let expire for 1.6 million people," Obama said.

The president framed those issues as part of a larger discussion about economic inequality in the speech.

"Average wages have barely budged," Obama said. "Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled. The cold, hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by — let alone get ahead."

But in general, the new proposals outlined in the speech rely a series of much smaller — but foreseeable without congressional action — new policy programs aimed at furthering the president's overall goals like increasing wages, improving schools, and creating jobs.

Before the speech, top aides to the president sketched out a vision for an address that doesn't chastise Congress for inaction as Obama repeatedly did in 2011 when he attacked a "dysfunctional Congress" during his "We Can't Wait" executive action push. This time, the administration says, the idea is to bring Congress along with him on issues like the minimum wage, which Obama acted on unilaterally Tuesday by increasing the minimum wage new federal contractors must pay their employees to around $10 an hour.

He means it this time.

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"And with the Afghan war ending, this needs to be the year Congress lifts the remaining restrictions on detainee transfers and we close the prison at Guantanamo Bay – because we counter terrorism not just through intelligence and military action, but by remaining true to our Constitutional ideals, and setting an example for the rest of the world."

“A speech by Barack Obama is a lot like sex — the worst there ever was is still excellent,” Republican consultant Alex Castellanos said of the State of Union address. Stephanie Cutter and Newt Gingrich looked skeptical.

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President Obama closed the State of the Union on Tuesday by honoring Cory Remsburg, who was injured in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan.

AP

President Obama ended his State of the Union address Tuesday by honoring Sgt. First Class Cory Remsburg, whom he first met in 2009.

Remsburg was injured in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan during his 10th deployment. He has undergone "dozens or surgeries" and rehabilitation, and is blind in one eye and "struggles on his left side," Obama said.

"Day by day, he's learned to speak again and stand again and walk again — and he's working toward the day when he can serve his country again," the president said. "My fellow Americans, men and women like Cory remind us that America has never come easy."

President Obama, Vice President Biden, Speaker of the House John Boehner, and members of Congress give Remsburg a standing ovation.

Mark Wilson / Getty

I first met Cory Remsburg, a proud Army Ranger, at Omaha Beach on the 65th anniversary of D-Day. Along with some of his fellow Rangers, he walked me through the program – a strong, impressive young man, with an easy manner, sharp as a tack. We joked around, and took pictures, and I told him to stay in touch.

A few months later, on his tenth deployment, Cory was nearly killed by a massive roadside bomb in Afghanistan. His comrades found him in a canal, face down, underwater, shrapnel in his brain.

For months, he lay in a coma. The next time I met him, in the hospital, he couldn't speak; he could barely move. Over the years, he's endured dozens of surgeries and procedures, and hours of grueling rehab every day.

Even now, Cory is still blind in one eye. He still struggles on his left side. But slowly, steadily, with the support of caregivers like his dad Craig, and the community around him, Cory has grown stronger. Day by day, he's learned to speak again and stand again and walk again – and he's working toward the day when he can serve his country again.

"My recovery has not been easy," he says. "Nothing in life that's worth anything is easy."

Cory is here tonight. And like the Army he loves, like the America he serves, Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg never gives up, and he does not quit.

My fellow Americans, men and women like Cory remind us that America has never come easy. Our freedom, our democracy, has never been easy. Sometimes we stumble; we make mistakes; we get frustrated or discouraged. But for more than two hundred years, we have put those things aside and placed our collective shoulder to the wheel of progress – to create and build and expand the possibilities of individual achievement; to free other nations from tyranny and fear; to promote justice, and fairness, and equality under the law, so that the words set to paper by our founders are made real for every citizen. The America we want for our kids – a rising America where honest work is plentiful and communities are strong; where prosperity is widely shared and opportunity for all lets us go as far as our dreams and toil will take us – none of it is easy. But if we work together; if we summon what is best in us, with our feet planted firmly in today but our eyes cast towards tomorrow – I know it's within our reach.

Believe it.

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Update: Rep. Michael Grimm apologized Wednesday morning after he physically intimidated a reporter after the reporter tried to ask Grimm questions he didn’t want to answer. Grimm is currently under federal investigation for alleged campaign finance violations.

youtube.com

"So Congressman Michael Grimm does not want to talk about some of the allegations concerning his campaign finances," Scotto said before tossing back to the station. Then as the shot ended, Grimm reapproached Scotto and began speaking to him directly.

"What?" Scotto responded. "I just wanted to ask you..."

Grimm: "Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I'll throw you off this f-----g balcony."

Scotto: "Why? I just wanted to ask you..."

[[cross talk]]

Grimm: "If you ever do that to me again..."

Scotto: "Why? Why? It's a valid question."

[[cross talk]]

Grimm: "No, no, you're not man enough, you're not man enough. I'll break you in half. Like a boy."

Via ny1.com

LINK: Update (Jan. 29): Grimm apologized to the reporter Wednesday morning.

"The bottom line is it shouldn’t have happened," Grimm told reporters.

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The president’s State of the Union address didn’t mention the Employment Non-Discrimination Act or the sought-after executive order to ban LGBT discrimination by federal contractors. “The longer the president waits the more damage LGBT people will face,” one advocate said.

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

In the White House fact sheets about tonight's State of the Union, the White House included this line about LGBT workers and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act:

But, this is as close as President Obama got to mentioning the bill, at the very end of his speech:

He did briefly mention marriage equality:

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“They’ve got to do a much better job,” Sen. Bob Casey says of the administration’s Syria strategy. Reviews of the president’s Iran comments had more of a partisan split.

The U.S. Capitol building is seen before U.S. President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address in front of the U.S. Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington January 28, 2014.

Jim Bourg / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers from both parties criticized President Obama's minimal comments on the violence in Syria in his State of the Union address, while reaction to the president's praise for the Iran interim nuclear deal fell more along party lines.

"The president really was disconnected from the serious dangers in the Mideast," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, calling the interim nuclear deal with Iran "terrible."

Graham said he was "shocked" that Obama didn't devote more of his speech to Syria, which he called a "contagion" that would destabilize the region.

Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat, said, "I've been pretty blunt with regard to the administration in the respect that they need to very clearly spell out what our strategy is going to be going forward" in Syria.

"They've got to do a much better job, even if they have a strategy, that they can clearly articulate that they've got to be able to communicate that," Casey said.

Obama briefly mentioned the Syrian conflict in his speech, saying that the United States would continue to support the secular political opposition. He also included mention of Syria in discussing America's diplomatic successes. "American diplomacy, backed by the threat of force, is why Syria's chemical weapons are being eliminated," he said, "and we will continue to work with the international community to usher in the future the Syrian people deserve — a future free of dictatorship, terror and fear."

"I thought the way he defined who we're going to support in Syria was pretty vague," said Rep. Steve King, a Republican from Iowa.

"We're going to support the good guys that oppose the regime — I'm not sure there are good guys we can identify that we can support," King said.

More mixed was the reaction to the president's comments on Iran, presented as the centerpiece of the foreign policy section of the speech. "It is American diplomacy, backed by pressure, that has halted the progress of Iran's nuclear program — and rolled parts of that program back — for the very first time in a decade," Obama said. The president touted the interim nuclear deal as a marquee diplomatic success, again threatening to veto any new sanctions.

"That was pretty bad," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of Obama's comparison of the current diplomacy with Iran to John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan's negotiations with the former Soviet Union. "I don't think [Reagan] ever set up phony treaties like this one with Iran."

"In the Senate there is overwhelming bipartisan agreement that we need to pass a sanctions bill with teeth in it," Sen. Ted Cruz said. "For the president to stand up and say he will oppose a large bipartisan majority in both houses of Congress because he so wants to cut a deal that he's going to endanger U.S. national security, I think that was perhaps the most dangerous line of the speech for the security of our nation."

Sen. Mark Kirk, an author of the sanctions bill that is currently stalled in the Senate, put out a statement after the speech urging Senate action on the bill, which has 59 co-sponsors.

But Democrats — even more hawkish members who have supported increasing sanctions — were more forgiving of the president's Iran remarks.

Walking briskly through the Capitol's statuary hall, Sen. Chuck Schumer replied, "That's not news, we already knew that," when asked about Obama's most recent veto threat, and commended Obama for mentioning Israel as a Jewish state. Along with Sen. Bob Menendez, Schumer has led the Democratic charge for new sanctions.

"You want to be able to get them to pull back so the idea of the sanctions is to get them to negotiate — and now they say they want to negotiate," said Rep. Jerry Nadler. "Fine, and in doing so we've halted their progress, no more enrichment, etc. And if at the end of that time period, one of two things is going to happen: either you are going to get a satisfactory verifiable result in which case it did work, or you are not in which case you are going to double down on sanctions."

"But to say let's enact larger sanctions now, it's going to knock the negotiations for a loop," he said.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee, declined to comment on any part of Obama's speech that had to do with Iran. Wasserman Schultz has been said to be quietly campaigning against sanctions legislation, though she has thus far avoided staking a public position.

"There's a consensus we would prefer to do it though diplomacy and get a result there," said Casey.

Meanwhile, the sanctions push in the Senate looks unlikely to come to a vote anytime soon. The House will soon look at a resolution delineating what an acceptable final deal would look like, said Rep. Eliot Engel.

"We've done our job," said Engel, referring to the overwhelming "yes" vote on the sanctions bill he and Rep. Ed Royce proposed last summer. "The Senate really hasn't done its job yet."

Jacob Fischler and Kate Nocera contributed reporting.

Conservatives compete for airtime. The latest flare-up in the GOP civil war isn’t about ideology; it’s about publicity.

Joshua Roberts / Reuters

Joshua Roberts / Reuters

When President Obama concluded his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, viewers didn't get to watch a single Republican response — they got to watch at least four.

There was Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers sitting on a couch as she delivered her party's official response; her counterpart, Rep. Ileana Ros- Lehtinen, giving a similar speech in Spanish; Sen. Mike Lee, who was tapped by the Tea Party Express to represent the conservative movement; and libertarian Sen. Rand Paul, who recorded his own response and posted it to YouTube.

The slew of official — and official-looking — Republican responses came amid the traditional frenzy of camera-mugging and late-night statements blasted out to reporters that marks every State of the Union address. Rep. Paul Ryan was one of several high-profile conservatives to give lengthy interviews to Fox News Tuesday night, while Sen. Ted Cruz wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal titled, "The Imperial Presidency of Barack Obama," and was seen hurrying from one television hit to the next in the hours following the speech.

In the run-up to Tuesday night, many political observers wondered whether the pile of Republican responses was yet another sign that the GOP had descended into irreparable division — proof that wilderness-wandering conservatives were unable to agree on a single vision for the country.

But while the various post-SOTU speeches and interviews certainly pointed to a fractured party, there was little evidence of a large-scale policy debate driving wedges between the Republicans competing for airtime. Instead, they suggested a more ordinary and time-honored dynamic was at work: self-promotion at the expense of partisan unity.

Not long ago, the party out of power would select one or two of its stars to deliver a brief response to the president's State of the Union address, and the rest of the party would dutifully spend the next day gushing about how great said stars' remarks were. In McMorris Rodgers, GOP officials found the ideal speaker for the current political moment — a workmanlike congresswoman with a sympathetic personal story who could hopefully soften the party's image. (She is the first woman to deliver a Republican SOTU response since 1995.)

But the GOP's power has become so decentralized — a phenomenon exacerbated by the internet and the media culture it has created — that few Republicans in Washington feel compelled anymore to let party bigwigs decide who gets to be the star of the evening. Lee, for example, has spent the past several months positioning himself as the intellectual leader of a certain brand of reform conservatism, and he seized the opportunity to meld that reputation with the Tea Party brand Tuesday night. Paul, meanwhile, had some success appointing himself Republican spokesman during the debate over Syria last fall, and he had nothing to lose by making another go at it.

Lee has called for a "Great Debate" to determine the future of the Republican Party's agenda. And to be sure, there are real policy differences that define the various warring factions within the party. But Tuesday night's performances weren't about ideological conviction; they were about publicity.

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We know this is why you’re watching.

When he said "Tsup."

Via nbcnews.com

When he grabbed a grouchy John Boehner.

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

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Michael Grimm said his emotions got the better of him when he told NY1 reporter Michael Scotto he’d push him off a balcony. Scotto accepted the apology.

NY1

WASHINGTON — New York Republican Rep. Michael Grimm said Wednesday he called a NY1 reporter Michael Scotto to apologize after physically threatening him during a post-State of the Union interview.

Grimm had refused to answer Scotto's questions regarding an investigation into his 2010 campaign fundraising, and, moments later, threatened to throw Scotto off of a balcony and "break you in half, like a boy." The entire exchange was caught on tape by the NY1 cameras.

"I'm a human being and sometimes emotions get the better of you and the bottom line is it shouldn't have happened," Grimm told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday. "You lose your cool and that's why I apologized. When you are wrong, you are wrong and you have to admit it and it shouldn't happen."

Scotto tweeted that he had accepted the congressman's apology.

"Bottom line is I lost my cool and I apologized," Grimm said. "My constituents know I'm extremely passionate about them. They expect Michael Grimm to have their back and that's what I'm known for and I'm very passionate about it. And unfortunately when you are that kind of person that has a lot of passion your emotions can get the better of you. There's no excuse. Mike was gracious and gracious enough to accept my apology and put it past us."

Grimm did not answer a reporter's question Wednesday as to whether he had spoken to House leadership about the incident with Scotto. He also said that he had not been drinking.

In a statement the previous evening, Grimm appeared to double down on his reaction, accusing Scotto of taking a "disrespectful cheap shot."

Grimm's New York colleague Rep. Peter King laughed the incident off.

"I've fought with reporters myself; it's a contact sport. If you can't take it, get out," King said smiling.

"It's different in New York… I think it's hurt him if he backs down," King said.

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They haven’t lost hope on getting new immigration laws done, but believe the key to reform will be House Republican immigration principles later this week.

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, Pool

Monday, border patrol detained two Arizona activists — the parents of a young undocumented immigrant.

The detention sparked a Facebook response from prominent DREAMer Erika Andiola. "I hope all the advocates that get to go the State of the Union tomorrow keep in mind that this is still happening every day and don't just stand there looking pretty for him. We need to do more than that," she wrote.

Juan and Alejandra Sanchez have since been released, BuzzFeed has learned, but Andiola's response is an example of how many young DREAMers are feeling ahead of President Obama's State of the Union speech Tuesday, which is expected to touch on the need for new immigration laws.

Andiola told BuzzFeed that "a speech coming from him on how Republicans have to pass [new immigration laws] with a path to citizenship for the 11 million" undocumented immigrants won't convince House Republicans.

"What will make us actually listen closer will be if he acknowledged that his administration has deported almost 2 million undocumented immigrants and what is he going to do in reality to make that stop and bring relief to our families," she said.

On the other side of the advocate spectrum, Eliseo Medina, a longtime activist who calls himself an "old-timer" because of his advocacy spanning decades, said the key for an immigration push this week will not be the president's speech, but the "principles" expected to be released by House Republicans after their retreat begins on Thursday.

"My sense is the president is giving space for Republicans to figure out what they're going to do," he said. "The most interesting thing is going to be what happens Thursday."

Medina, who engaged in a high-profile hunger strike late last year as part of Fast4Families that caught the attention of the president, said activists will review the principles, and from there, already have plans to visit congressional districts and meet with constituents to keep the pressure on congressmen to support new laws.

Advocates are frustrated with hearing the president continually mention immigration policy changes without successful legislation. The National Day Laborer Organizing Network sent BuzzFeed the following video on the topic:

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The former presidential candidate and pizza mogul said on the radio Wednesday President Obama’s proposal to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 was not a “big bold idea” and would only impact a “a very small percentage of the people.”

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The Democratic candidate for Florida governor has changed his mind about a lot of things.

At the Miami Herald, Marc Caputo has a review of former-Republican-turned-Independent-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist's new book The Party's Over: How the Extreme Right Hijacked the GOP and I Became a Democrat. Caputo notes the book serves as both a 2014 gubernatorial campaign manifesto and an autobiography of Crist's switch from Republican to Democrat, notably skipping over some history for his shift.

Crist has taken a lot of positions over the years on issues. Here are 10 of his biggest flip-flops.

In a 1998 Senate debate, as a Republican, he said he thinks abortion is a personal issue and not a government issue. He later on adds he does support a partial-birth abortion ban.

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As attorney general of Florida and a gubernatorial candidate in 2006, Crist said he would sign a bill that would ban abortion in Florida except in cases of rape and incest.

Web Archive

On his 2006 "on the issues" page, Crist says we should do more to "Promote a Culture of Life at every stage of life."

Crist 2006

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The White House tells BuzzFeed it will respond to the online petition.

A "We the People" White House petition on deporting Justin Bieber recently passed 100,000 signatures. Petitions that surpass 100,000 signatures require an official White House response.

Via petitions.whitehouse.gov

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There was a fake glowing fireplace.

Watching from home, the State of the Union looks so pretty and organized.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

But who's ready to see what this cluster looks like behind the scenes?

Larry Downing / Reuters

During the State of the Union the Capitol building becomes a warzone.

There is no larger annual gathering of important elected representatives all year. So don't even try to cross this line.

There are TONS of police all over the Capitol.

Fancy policemen have the white gloves on.

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Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado refused to say if he wanted Obama to come to his state to campaign for him in an interview Tuesday night with CNN. Videos show Obama campaigned with him in 2008.

Here's Sen. Udall on CNN declining to say (multiple times) if he wants President Obama to campaign with him this year when he's up for reelection.

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And here's Udall campaigning with Obama in 2008. At the event, Udall said, "Let me utter two really sweet words — President Obama. Will that send a message to the world or what?"

youtube.com

And here's Obama giving Udall a shout out.

vine.co

Dean and Jones look for MEK love on the Hill. Dean won’t say if he’s paid.

Supporters of Iranian opposition group Mujahadin-e-Khalq (MEK) rally against Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki hours before he is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama, outside the White House in Washington, November 1, 2013.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Four high-profile American supporters of an Iranian dissident group that was until recently designated a terrorist organization gathered on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to criticize American diplomacy with Iran amid disillusionment in Congress over the recent interim nuclear deal, which has prompted an effort in the Senate to pass new sanctions during negotiations.

The Iranian-American Community of Arkansas, a branch of the Organization of Iranian-American Communities, an Iranian exile group related to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), sponsored a briefing in the Dirksen Senate office building that featured former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, former Ambassador to Morocco Marc Ginsberg, General James L. Jones, and and former US Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation Robert Joseph.

"I support the president's willingness to negotiate," Dean said in his speech. "What I don't support, however, is any cynicism in those negotiations."

Dean said that no agreement should be signed until the administration agrees to take in 3,000 MEK refugees from Camp Ashraf, where they had been living in exile and have been attacked by the Iraqi government. MEK's U.S. supporters have accused the U.S. government of forcing the dissidents forced out of Camp Ashraf to live in inhumane conditions in Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base.

"We ought to sign no agreement until those 3000 people are safe," Dean said.

Asked after his speech whether he was still being paid by the MEK, as he has acknowledged in the past, Dean said "I don't answer questions like that. I'm interested in human rights, reporters are always interested in that. I don't play the game, sorry."

"I said I was for it, but as a condition of signing the nuclear agreement, we ought to make sure these 3,000 people are safe and they ought to be out of Iraq," Dean said of his stance on negotiating with Iran.

"That's your story, my story is what's going on in here," Dean said when pressed on the question of compensation.

Joseph strongly criticized the nuclear deal and said the current iteration of the deal would move Iran closer to being a nuclear threshhold state.

"Appeasement will not assist our efforts," he said. "The stakes are enormous if we fail in stopping Iran's nuclear quest."

"I think it's exactly the right thing to do," Joseph said of the Kirk-Menendez sanctions bill currently stalled in the Senate. "It is sanctions that got us to where we are."

Menendez and other supporters of the bill "have understandably taken a position that it's best to keep the pressure on the Iranian regime by having more sanctions ready at the cusp in the event that these negotiations do not succeed," Ginsberg said. "As I said earlier, if it hadn't been for the Congress' leadership, it's very doubtful that the Iranian government would have come to the table."

Jones said that the group had covered his travel expenses to appear at the event. "I'm not here for the money, if that's what you're asking," he said.

The MEK was de-listed from the list of officially designated terrorist organizations in 2012, after an intense multimillion lobbying campaign in which the organization gave donations to Congress and recruited a number of high-profile former officials, including Dean and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, as supporters. Dean and Giuliani have both been paid to speak at MEK events.