>> the president's state of the union was not a campaign speech per se . but his populist rhetoric is something we're going to hear a lot of in the general election campaign ahead. president obama used this election year state of the union address to talk about the future and boast about what he believes are his best accomplishments.
>> the state of our union is getting stronger. we've come too far to turn back now.
>> reporter: bracing for a tough re-election fight the president struck a populist tone.
>> we can have an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone gets their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules.
>> reporter: he went out of his way to strike a patriotic tone using the words " america " and "american" 88 times.
>> what's at stake aren't democratic or republican values but american values . american manufacturers are hiring again. america is back.
>> reporter: sticking to the populist theme he went after easy targets -- wall street and congress.
>> i talked about the deficit of trust between main street and wall street but the divide between this city and the country is at least as bad.
>> reporter: foreign policy mostly took a back seat but one topic came up twice.
>> for the first time in two decades, osama bin laden is not a threat to this country.
>> reporter: the president going out of his way to use the successful bin laden mission as a lesson on how washington should work.
>> one of my proudest possessions is the flag that the s.e.a.l. team took with them on the mission to get bin laden . on it are each of their names. some may be democrats. some may be republicans. but that doesn't matter.
>> reporter: but the presidential campaign was never far from his mind. one of his signature proposals -- creating a 30% minimum tax rate for multimillionaires and billionaires.
>> asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? most americans would call that common sense.
>> reporter: the president could have been talking directly to mitt romney who released his tax returns tuesday showing he paid less than 15%. under the president's proposal romney's tax bill would more than double.
>> he thinks america is on the right track.
>> reporter: in an interview with brian williams , romney questioned the optimistic tone.
>> the idea that we are on the right track is foreign to people here.
>> reporter: the emotional high point of the evening took place before anyone uttered a word. arizona congresswoman gabby giffords who is resigning her seat today received an enthusiastic bipartisan salute, including a special greeting from the president. while the president's traditional post state of the union travel schedule looks awfully like a campaign swing, he's hitting five battleground states in three days from michigan, arizona, nevada, colorado and iowa, matt.
Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/46128879/
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