My guess is you don't. My guess is you reload and aim at other targets.
After all, this president is popular even if his programs aren't.
A majority of Americas favor him in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll (58 percent) and the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll (52 percent).
But only a third of Americans like his performance on top domestic issues.
The latest USAToday/Gallup poll says that only 32 percent think that health care ought to be his top priority. The latest Quinnipiac Poll says that only 34 percent like his efforts in job creation.
So, expect him to play to the popularity.
Expect to hear about freezing government spending, a populist theme, and new ways to help "the middle class," which 80 percent of us claim we are.
For lovers of government garble, there's a new administration report that says that the middle class is "defined by their aspirations more than their incomes." Good to know.
And the Congressional Research Service says that our "self-defined" middle class has incomes between $40,000 and $250,000 – or just about all but the unemployed and underpaid, pro athletes, surgeons, law partners and Wall Streeters.
It's no mystery that the middle class is tonight's target.
But, unless there are specifics on the freeze and details on paying for what the White House says are new tax breaks for child care and retirement plans and reducing student loans, why would we think such sweetness is just around the corner?
Despite past speeches, health-care reform is questionable, bi-partisanship is a joke and overall "change" in Washington so far looks like change for the worse.
And, yeah, the State of the Union gets more weight and pundit parsing than it deserves. It is only a speech (in Obama's case, performance art) that historically doesn't much move any incumbent's numbers.
