--- title: The State of the Union's Hits and Misses | TIME description: TIME looks at President Obama's hits and misses in his 2014 State of the Union speech. canonical: https://time.com/video/93GYEyVY/ og:title: The State of the Union's Hits and Misses og:description: TIME looks at President Obama's hits and misses in his 2014 State of the Union speech. og:url: https://time.com/video/93GYEyVY/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/93GYEyVY/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The State of the Union's Hits and Misses twitter:description: TIME looks at President Obama's hits and misses in his 2014 State of the Union speech. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/93GYEyVY/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # The State of the Union's Hits and Misses > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: The State of the Union's Hits and Misses [Watch (HLS stream): The State of the Union's Hits and Misses](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/93GYEyVY.m3u8) (8:37)  _Published 2014-01-29. TIME looks at President Obama's hits and misses in his 2014 State of the Union speech._ --- Jul 27, 2023 4:09 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Five Years of Obama's State of the Union](/video/kvaKb5nc/) ### Five Years of Obama's State of the Union [State of the Union's Best Photos](/video/hW4qfdSc/) ### State of the Union's Best Photos [State of the Union's Best Tweets](/video/1no6UlUz/) ### State of the Union's Best Tweets --- ## Transcript >> But I wanna dive into some of the clips from the President's speech in our time left with you here from New York, and start with when the president talked about the issue that people point to say has the potential for a bipartisan compromise this year, which is immigration. Let's listen to President Obama on that. >> When people come here to fulfill their dreams-- to study, invent, and contribute to our culture-- they make our country a more attractive place for businesses to locate and create jobs for everybody. So let's get immigration reform done this year. Let's get it done, it's time. >> So, this is an issue that Republicans have moved on and send signals in the last few days that they're willing to work with the Democrats on. The reaction shot there from Eric Cantor, the senior Republican. I'm not sure. I'd have enough of it. And he's an expert of human nature, Cantor to say what that series of expressions meant, but not just in the room, but in general, where does the president stand in trying to get this as a bipartisan achievement this year? >> I think we saw there was another plus line that followed that in which Boehner was sort of slow clapping. I think there's-- the Republicans are trying to hold back their enthusiasm. But clearly, from the leadership point of view, they wanna get something done. Later this week, they're going to announce a series of principles based on upon which they're going to move forward and passing probably small- ball legislation, series of bills. It could add up to something, some sort of a compromise before the election or something that resolves itself after the election. I think there's movement. There could be something that happens. It won't be what Democrats want. It has to be done incredibly delicately, and I think Obama was casting it the right way there for getting something done. He was saying as an economic issue would actually lift all votes. >> And there's no-- there's no economic case against it. I mean, I'm sure everyone is getting a lot of pressure from business around this. You know, the research shows it benefits not just at the top end with the H- 1B visas, but also at the lower end. So it's a bit a big issue. >> I wanna keep going on this theme of the president and John Boehner. You could sort of write the history of the Barack Obama administration traced through his relationship with Boehner, someone he's built some ties with but had some big blocks and particularly run some of those bigger fiscal issues. I wanna show you a moment of the president reaching out very explicitly and clearly to John Boehner, and he got this signature Boehner reaction. You'll notice a little weepiness as you watch the end of this sequence. >> How the son of a barkeeper is Speaker of the House; how the son of a single mom can be President of the greatest nation on Earth. Now opportunity is who we are. And the defining project of our generation must be to restore that promise. We know where to start. >> So, Michael, quickly, John Boehner is susceptible to weepiness, but-- >> Yes, he did. >> is there anything there that you think he'll now come a way of appreciating the homage to his roots or is that just a one- off? >> I'm sure he'll appreciate it, but it won't change anything John Boehner does. I mean, what's the marvel about Boehner is that he's a guy who goes out every day and says things he probably doesn't believe and everybody knows he probably doesn't believe me. That's sort of the definition for a member of Congress' job to sort of feign outrage, to try and drive a new cycle, and yet, he has so little guile when it comes to stuff like that. He's such-- You can see right through him-- >> Right. >> when he gets emotional. >> I wanna go back to this issue we mentioned a couple of times now of women. I said I thought it was a big part of his speech, and there was one paragraph, the president pretty fiery on a big reaction. Democrats are going to play this card politically, not just as grade in politics in the midterms 'cause it worked for them in 2012, but because they believe in a lot of the pocketbook issues that their advantage lies with pressing the notion of how economics affects America's women. Let's listen to the president talk about that set of issues.- A mother deserves a day off to care for a sick child or a sick parent without running into hardship. And you know what, a father does too. It is time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a " Mad Men" episode. This year let's all come together, Congress, the White House, businesses from Wall Street to Main Street, to give every woman the opportunity she deserves, because I believe when women succeed, America succeeds. >> Animated response there from the First Lady and from Rosa DeLauro, one of the more prominent female democratic members of the Congress. Is the president on solid ground talking about in America in which women do face a lot of economic shortfalls in terms of men, in terms of the issues he talked about? >> Well, it's interesting. I mean, women are actually making up a greater and greater percentage of the breadwinners and in households, and I think that he's speaking that they have increasing economic power, but there's still a wage gap. So I think that he's really trying to, you know, speak to both of those issues. I have to say I really loved the line by getting rid of workplace policies that belong in a Mad Men era. That was a big-- >> Feeling for the current idiom. >> I think so. Yeah. >> Yeah. Pretty good. Okay. We wanna just show you a little bit more of the president, one of the issues Democrats plan to push very hard this year in Congress and a lot of the states, and then depending on what happens in the midterm, is the issue of minimum wage, and the president call that's been long expected as a pretty big part of his agenda this year on Congress to raise the federal minimal wage. Let's listen to that. >> Profitable corporations like Costco see higher wages as the smart way to boost productivity and reduce turnover. We should too. In the coming weeks, I will issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay their federally- funded employees a fair wage of at least $ 10. 10 an hour because if you cook our troops' meals or wash their dishes, you should not have to live in poverty. >> Michael, another line, another section that got Democrats all excited. What is the Republican political strategy for dealing with the minimum wage? >> Yeah, I hoped to move on to something else, I think. I mean, the other interesting part about this was the president made a very prominent appeal directly to business. It wasn't just appealing to Congress. He said, if you're an employer, you should raise them. You should voluntarily raise the wages of your employees, and then he highlighted the pizza guy. >> And Costco. >> And Costco. Yeah, the Costco is part of it. I think that's actually serving a mission that this Republican house is not passing an increase in the minimum wage, which is not gonna happen in this cycle, but it's a good political issue for Democrats. Republicans know it's a good political issue for Democrats, and I think they are gonna say, " Look, the issue is jobs ." The Republican answer here of the talking point is " I care about jobs. I don't care about wages as much, and my main priority here is getting more jobs. If you increase minimum wage, you're gonna have less jobs ." >> Okay. I wanna show you one last bit from the president on the issue of health care, Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act. President took this on as we said before a little bit more directly than some of us expected in challenging Republicans, and framing with a lot of rhetoric he used in the presidential campaign about as we all see him say not refighting, not relitigating what is already a settled law. Let's listen to the president on that. >> Now, I do not expect to convince my Republican friends on the merits of this law. But I know that the American people are not interested in refighting old battles. So again, if you have specific plans to cut costs, cover more people, increase choice, tell America what you'd do differently. Let's see if the numbers add up. 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