We already know that the president will deliver an eloquent State of the Union address filled with exaggerated accomplishments and some not so subtle blame-Bush references. Whereas the president must try to be as optimistic as possible, we must also be realistic about the state of the union through the Voice of the People, because problems do not fix themselves.

Assessments of the state of our union will prompt different opinions by different people. The majority party in control of Congress and the White House will tend to be overly optimistic, while the minority party will tend to be more pessimistic about the health of the nation. And there are plenty of selective statistics out there to try and make one's desired political case.