Obama hits the road with State of the Union proposals for job growth

>>> daily fix, chis and chuck todd , chief political correspondent and host of "the daily rundown." two speeches, two different approaches. chuck todd , we see the president on the road today. he'll be on the road the rest of the week. did he muddy up or cover up his middle class message, economic message with that incredible and emotional appeal at the end?

>> or would the speech have just sort of disappeared quickly, the state of the union speech , without the emotional ending. this speech was being set up. it was sort of run-of-the-mill. felt a little clintonesque aspect to it the way clinton used to do state of the unions. i want to do this, i want to do this. a series of smaller issues in a large framework, if you got it all would be a big change, but small things that he wants to get done in a larger speech is going to be remembered for the last ten minutes. and i'll tell you, you just can't help -- you watch him -- his ability -- i don't think people understand how hard it is to get members of congress. even on the half of them who agree with you as a sitting president, to act like an audience in a congregation. or act like an audience in a campaign rally. they lived the moment. when i saw jeff sessions standing up clapping and looking for the 102-year-old woman up there. you thought, boy, they all bought into the moment. that's something -- it's a nice moment for washington.

>> although john boehner did not get up for the 102-year-old woman.

>> no, but he got up or other things too. please, it's at the end of the speech.

>> what about marco rubio , there's been a lot of nitpicking. overall, it's a very hard job to give the response, the republican response. there's been very few examples, and you, chris, anyone who has given a democratic or republican response that has been effective. we saw bobby jindal with brian williams last night in a very effective interview. but we know how ineffective his response from new orleans was when he tried it. so what about marco rubio and his especially message.

>> i feel like it's that infamous " sports illustrated " jinx. they put you on the cover, it's the worst possible thing for your career.

>> unless you're wearing a bathing suit.

>> well -- geez -- i'm not going -- i will not address. that.

>> she is trying to suck you into a kate upton conversation.

>> exactly.

>> i'm fully hydrated and i'm just continuing forward.

>> don't reach for your water.

>> president of the united states is addressing the cabinet. the supreme court . all the members of congress. the diplomatic corps . there's sort of a grandeur of the moment just visually. no matter what you do, bob mcdonald , the governor of virginia a few years ago sort of surrounded himself with people. we know the bobby jindal speech came off awkward. marco rubio , someone joked he looked like he was sit on the set of "downton abbey." yes, the grab for water, you could tell that his voice was going out. is something that the internet is going to live with for the next 24, 48, 72 hours and democrats thrilled to for a very long time. do i think it's something that ultimately matters? no. i thought the best thing marco rubio did in that speech. he did something that mitt romney couldn't do for the four years that he was campaigning. marco rubio was able to say, president obama says we're the party of the rich. we're not. i'm looking out for my neighbors. i care about medicare. i care about these things. i'm not a wealthy elitist. he did that well. you know if he didn't lunge for the water, that's what we'd be talking about today. i think in the long run, that's what we winds up talking about. i think that's the message he articulates going forward as the leader of the party.

>> the fact that he gave the speech also first in spanish. you know, he has been working on that bipartisan group of senators. and they will tell you you the democrats will tell you that he is working very closely with them, trying to make immigration reform a reality.

>> but i wonder though, if -- yet, he didn't talk about that in his speech. he didn't talk about what he's doing about bipartisan prof approaches. what i found interesting, sigh felt that marco rubio , poll-tested well. the message he was doing, there was no change. he was delivering the romney/ryan stump speech .

>> it was not the evolved republican message?

>> well, it's not a change message. evolve -- you get into that, people will -- but it was not changed. the question is, did he broaden -- if this is about did bobby jindal and marco rubio start -- hey, they're trying to get into the persuasion game. they got to start making the idea for why they're right.

>> marco rubio had tea party support, but there is another cohort of another tea party -supported senators and ted cruz , the freshman from texas is the exemplar of that. this is what happened yesterday on the chuck hagel vote on armed services . when john mccain comes in as a critic and ends up having to defend chuck hagel because of the very sharp attack from ted cruz . let's watch.

>> we saw with his nomination something truly extraordinary which is the government of iran formally and publicly praising the nomination of a defense secretary . i would suggest to you that is unprecedented to see a foreign nation like iran publicly celebrating a nomination.

>> i want to put on the record that this senator feels like that senator cruz has gone over the line. he basically has impugned the patriotism of the nominee.

>> senator hagel is an honorable man. he's served his country, and no one on this committee at anytime should impugn his character or his integrity.

>> so, chuck todd , ted cruz has made a mark already. this isn't the first instance?

>> no, he's not. i've been thinking about this, this new -- if you want to say this is more evidence. but you know, i remember a young rick santorum coming in breaking some traditions.

>> boy, did he.

>> breaking when he did this, three, four, five years later when he realized that was sort of offending people. he changed a little bit. he couched his rhetoric. i wonder if some of the old bulls on the republican side -- somebody is going to pull ted cruise aside and say, look, nobody's telling you you shouldn't speak up. but there's some decorum. we do things a little differently in the senate. he may not take to it well. he seems like a man in a hurry.

>> chris, before you jump in, i want to share with the both of you the washingtonian has a great article about one of our colleagues. apparently, somebody was in the dog park and heard a fellow washingtonian yelling chuck todd , chuck todd . they didn't see our intrepid correspondent. and somebody in the dog park has named their labrador chuck today.

>> why does not dog not have a goatee.

>> it was at the westminster dog show .

>> that's a good looking dog.

>> and you are a good looking dog, too, if i'm not being too sexist. i'm such a dog lover. chuck, thank you.