Welcome to the beat. I'm Ari Melburgh, and this is the eve of the State of the Union.

There is this historic job growth, the White House is selling.

And then the rapidly developing clash in Washington, as we're getting new details about what the true Republican agenda may be in the Congress or in the people running for president.

There are prominent conservatives that are reviving an idea long left for dead, and interestingly one that Barack Obama himself warned about on the midterm campaign trail. The idea, bringing back

what was once a Bush-era plan to change or gut Social Security. The president tonight, we're

told, will say much more about how he plans to reshape Social Security.

The system is headed toward bankruptcy.

I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.

Strengthen it, improve it, do not privatize it, even though some consider it, some, the third rail of American politics.

Some are afraid to touch it, some don't want to touch it, some provide excuses not to touch it.

Do you want to touch it?

Even in friendly territory, it's fair to say he's finding that his plan is going to be a hard sell. The problem is that the stock market could do badly in the future.

A dumb idea. I'm not convinced of any plan. I'm not convinced of the president's plan.

The last voice there, a southern Republican senator, if you live through this, you may remember

the backlash, the street protests, voters who were being told that the markets do great,

put it all in the markets, and maybe it'll be even easier or

more profitable than how Social Security works as a government program. But the thing about

markets is they go up and they go down. And people, ultimately, most people, including in

red states, were very concerned about the idea that you would have to just ride that wave

to insecurity when the

whole point of Social Security is the security part. You heard Bush there talking about the

capital that he thought he earned? Well, he tried spending it, but he backed down. It didn't work.

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