President Obama delivers the 2010 State of the Union address.CAPTIONBy H. Darr Beiser, USATPresident Obama will probably deliver his annual State of the Union address in late January, and you know what that means.


He's getting loads of advice in early January.

The Washington Monthly magazine has put together a symposium on what the president should say when he goes before a joint session of Congress, including members of the new Republican-run U.S. House.

William Galston, a former Bill Clinton aide who now holds a chair in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, urges Obama to remember Scripture: "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Galston adds:

Policies are no substitute for vision. Not only are the American people hurting, they're also confused and scared. They know the old model of economic success has hit a wall, but they don't know what the new one could be. Offer them a narrative that leads from today's hard times to a new era of opportunity.


Bruce Bartlett, a senior policy during Ronald Reagan's presidency, says Obama should reach out to and cite by name Republicans "who have taken actions or proposed ideas worthy of consideration." He said that includes "conservative intellectuals who have been critical of the Republican Party's lack of a governing philosophy or meaningful legislative agenda."

Writes Bartlett:

What I am suggesting is really just a broader version of a tactic you have already occasionally used. In November, for instance, you invited Brent Scowcroft, Henry Kissinger, and James Baker to a high-profile White House meeting to highlight their support for the new START treaty your administration negotiated. That meeting led to several weeks of press coverage in which Senate Republicans who were resisting a vote on ratification were portrayed as sacrificing national security for partisan advantage. That's the kind of pressure you'll need if you have any hope of moving your agenda through Congress in the coming two years.

And Howard Dean, former Vermont governor, former presidential candidate, and former Democratic Party chairman, writes that Obama should reclaim the mantle of "the Great Reformer," and put Tea Party-influenced Republicans on the defensive:

As a next step in cleaning up Washington, you should take aim at the dysfunction of the Senate by calling for reform of the filibuster, an end to anonymous holds, and a nonrenewable time limit on all holds. The State of the Union provides you with an ideal pulpit to call for these changes. And guess who gets the blame if the Senate balks?

The date for Obama's State of the Union address has not yet been nailed down, but it is expected to be in late January.

There are other pieces of advice in The Washington Monthly, and all around the city of Washington, D.C. -- and there will no doubt continue to be, right up to the moment Obama starts speaking