Yes, for a change, I actually watched (well, I missed a little bit here and there, but I hung in there for the bulk of it).

But I'm not sure, in the end, it will mean a whole lot.  He asked Congress to raise the minimum wage last year - they didn't.  And I don't think they'll do it this year, unless Democrats give the GOP something we probably don't want them to - some group with no power and no voice will be sacrificed, kind of like nutrition assistance was sacrificed in order to pass a farm bill that benefits agribusiness.

A Republican party that is represented by people who think women who want birth control are sluts who can't control their sex drive, and believe women have special powers to prevent pregnancy in the case of "real" rape, are not going to be embarrassed into eliminating the wage gap between men and women.  These people can't be embarrassed.

It's all well and good to recognize that living at the poverty level should not be the consequence of retiring from the workforce, but "MyRA" feels like a segue to "let's privatize Social Security!"  How about expanding Social Security instead - lift the cap and increase the benefits?  Oh, right - that might be too much of a sacrifice for people making more than 104K a year.  I keep forgetting that.

By all means, honor the service and sacrifice of an egregiously wounded soldier - but recognize that you sent him into that conflict, there are many, many more just like him, and our VA's ability to deal with the range of injuries is still not where it should be.  We are still failing our military, both active and retired, and that's not right.

Great idea to use the power of the pen to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers - but that's a raise that will only apply to new contracts, not existing ones; I don't think he mentioned that part - if he did, I missed it.  I'd suggest we need to look at contracts more closely, and do something really radical, like require that those at the top of the food chain can only make x-times the salaries of the lowest-paid workers.

The key right words, in my view, included (a) that inequality and upward mobility have stalled, (b), intelligence "reforms" are needed, (c) diplomatic efforts in Iran should not be undermined,  and (d) our war footing should end.  

The SOTU was, also, important for what was not said: no new governmental austerity steps or comparisons to household budgets; no calls for cutting social security, Medicare or Medicaid.  No push for a Grand Bargain.

The action steps were mode.  In a way, an update to proposing "school uniforms."   An executive order on increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour, to take effect with new federal contracts signed in 2015 or later (not companies on existing contracts) and only for workers funded directly by federal contracts (as opposed to indirectly,, such as workers financed by the Small Business Administration or Medicaid/Medicare.)  And, the critical issue of surveillance curbs,  was an issue left to work on with Congress. No executive action proposed. Hence, so much for that reform.

Any frustrations with the content, however, could be re-ordered by glimpsing the reactions of the Republicans.  The flurry of Republican responses ranged from the threadbare to the unhinged.  

Representative McMorris Rogers seemed pleasant but hooked her star to repeal of Obamacare.  Ileana Ros-Lethinen (my former representative, prior to re-districting) was, well, Ileana, saying what McMorris Rogers said in Spanish.  To her credit, she was better than last year's reach-out by Marco Rubio  and his co-star, a bottle of Poland Spring water.