White House spokesman Jay Carney said that stories characterizing President Obama's SOTU as tonally aggressive are not accurate Tuesday evening on Fox News. Carney emphasized thematically the president's address will call for bipartisanship:
BRET BAIER: What is the president looking to do tonight? Are the stories about the tone and tenor of tonight being "aggressive" accurate?
JAY CARNEY: Well, I would say the answer to that question, the second one is no. The president I think thematically and tonally will continue what he has said repeatedly on the national stage, going all the way back to his speech to the Democratic convention in Boston in 2004, where he talked about the need for us to come together and reach common ground and find solutions to the challenges that face us, where we set aside party. You heard him in the the inaugural address, Bret, talk about how nobody expects us to resolve all of our differences for Democrats and Republicans to agree on everything, but that shouldn't be an excuse for getting nothing done. We ought to come together and reach compromises on the central challenges that face us. That thematically is something you will hear the president echo again today. He will make clear is what his agenda is, what his vision is, but he will make clear also there are ways to achieve these things, if we come together and work together in a bipartisan fashion.
Full interview: