President Barack Obama will give his second State of the Union speech tonight at 8 Central Standard Time.
 
In a video addressed to his supporters released Saturday, Obama said the speech would focus primarily on the economy.
 
Specifically, Obama said the speech would focus on unemployment and on making the U.S. competitive with the rest of the world.
 
The annual speech is traditionally an opportunity for the president to both diagnose the country’s health and to explain his agenda for the coming year in front of a joint session of Congress.
 
Robert Gibbs, Obama’s press secretary, told reporters in a press conference yesterday the president would also address the infamous Tucson, Ariz., shooting, according to the Los Angeles Times.
 
That Jan. 8 shooting killed six and left U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head. Giffords continues to recover.
 
The shooting has stirred debate in national news outlets and the Congress floor about partisanship and angry rhetoric in the country’s heated political discourse.  
 
Gibbs also said in the conference that several people involved with the shooting would be in attendance, including the intern credited with saving Giffords’  life, a member of the medical team that treated Giffords and the family of one of the victims slain in the attack.
 
In addition to the president’s comments, some legislators have made a conspicuous effort to make a symbolic gesture of bipartisanship in the wake of the shooting.
 
Sen. Mark Udall, D-Utah, proposed that representatives and senators from the two political parties sit with members of the opposition, according to news reports.
 
Udall plans to sit with Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, who challenged Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
 
Most recent State of the Union speeches have seen representatives of the two parties sit separately, leading to sometimes stark moments where one party remains obviously seated despite standing ovations from the other.
Last year’s state of the Union turned especially tense when Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., yelled “you lie” during Obama’s speech.
 
Wilson plans to sit between two Democrats this year, his office announced via Twitter.
 
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Contact Matthew Albright at
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