At 9pm ET on Tuesday, President Barack Obama will deliver his sixth annual State of the Union address. Of course, Obama has already revealed much of what he plans to discuss or announce, but given that it’s perhaps the most important speech the leader of the free world will give all year, you should at least turn on the State of the Union in the background as you play Trivia Crack.
Where to watch the SOTU
Below, you can stream the PBS NewsHour coverage, which will be running from 9-11pm ET.
The White House is hosting a YouTube livestream, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPHH1Ykx1jY
Follow along
What Obama’s going to say
The economy is going to take center stage tonight, with Obama set to unveil a “middle-class economics” platform that includes raising taxes on wealthy Americans while giving a tax break to members of the middle class. The president will also likely detail his plan to offer two years of “free” community college to any American willing to do the work. He may also further address his recent executive actions on immigration.
Expect the president to dive into topics like the Islamic State (ISIS), Iran, and terrorism in general. He may also address race relations, considering that the past year has seen major anti-police-brutality protests following the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in New York City. Of course, the president will also set the tone for his relationship with the new Republican-led Congress.
Obama’s sixth State of the Union will be unusually heavy on Internet issues. The president will unveil his plan to help expand city-run Internet in the U.S., and he is expected to reiterate his support for net neutrality (the principle that all data on the Internet should be treated equally). He may also dive into his new cybersecurity proposal.
How to get in on the conversation
This is going to be the most Internet-friendly State of the Union in history. The New York Times reports that the White House has hired a staff “to produce a series of videos, digital op-eds, Facebook and Twitter posts, and six-second animated GIFs.” You’ll be able to check those out here, here, and here.
The primary hashtag is, of course, #SOTU, though a lot of people are using #SOTU2015 as well. Others include #SOTUSocial and the jokey #SOTU5words. Other hashtags are guaranteed to pop up during the speech if anything notable happens that spawns a meme. And, if you get lucky, Bing will put you on CNN!
Photo via White House/Flickr (PD)
