Hello, good friends, and welcome to this very special edition of the Bill Press

Bond, a look back at last night's State of the Union address.

For any president, a state of the union is a unique opportunity, a national stage to give the speech

to the American people, which all the networks have to carry without interruption.

And for Donald Trump, this state of the union wasn't especially important opportunity because

it came at a time when his administration appeared to be losing focus, when his main economic

program had been shot down by the Supreme Court, when his administration appeared to be losing focus, when his main economic program had been

shot down by the Supreme Court, when his sending troops into American cities had been stopped

by the courts, when his poll numbers were at an all-time low, and when even some Republicans

were expressing worries that he might not do so much good for them in the midterms.

So as those of you who managed to stay awake know, it was the longest state of the

union in history, one hour and 48 minutes, but did it achieve its purpose?

Well, to give their objective reactions to the state of the union today, we invited not to politicians,

but two editors, two of the best in the business, not to challenge the president's facts or to

agree or disagree with his policies. I'll take care of that in my next column. But to answer the

more basic questions, did Donald Trump seize the moment?

Did he succeed in getting the administration back on track? Did he unite the Congress and the

country behind a new forward-looking agenda? And did he give Republicans the midterm boosts that they

needed? Well, you know both of today's guests from frequent appearances here on the Bill Press

spot.

So let's say hello again to Jeff Dupor, editor-in-chief of the National Journal. Hi, Jeff. Morning, Bill. And to Jason Dick, editor-in-chief of CQ. Roll-Call. Hi, Jason. Good morning, Bill. Morning, Jeff. So congratulations to both of you and to me and Jay,

our producer, for making it through the speech. Jeff, just overall, your overall impression,

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