Morning Must Reads: SOTU

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl2g40GoRxg]

–There’s a bit of State of the Union over-saturation going on, but my impressions were that it largely accomplished what such speeches are intended to: It expressed President Obama’s priorities in vague enough terms that few feathers were ruffled or cages rattled. From a policy perspective it broke little new ground and  and I’d be surprised if, one year from now, anybody remembers much beyond the smoked salmon joke. It played well with the public in snap polling, but SOTU viewership typically skews toward a president’s supporters.

–A quick twirl around the reacto-sphere: David Sanger saw Obama’s address as an overarching argument against indiscriminate austerity. Our colleague Michael Grunwald writes he’s playing a bit of rope-a-dope with Republicans. Ross Douthat thought both Obama’s and Ryan’s speeches lacked sufficient specificity on entitlements.

–The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report finds that the ’08 implosion was avoidable and casts a wide net of blame.

–Jim Talent will pass on a Senate bid in Missouri, opening up the field a bit.

–The front-runner to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison is no lock.

–And Time.com puts together photos of Egypt erupting.

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