SOTU 2013: a Mardi Gras for wonks

Impact

This year, President Obama's chosen date for the State of the Union happens to be President Abraham Lincoln's 210th birthday.  It's no secret that Pres. Obama is a admirer of the sixteenth president, and I would be willing to bet that President Obama will reference the Great Emancipator in tonight's address.

Today, by complete coincidence, also happens to be Fat Tuesday, that day of revelry and excess before Ash Wednesday ushers in the self-sacrifice of Lent.  I don't expect the president to comment much on Mardi Gras, but keep your eyes on the crowd - you might spot Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) wearing some beads over her suit.

But for those of us who are enraptured by politics more than Carnival, tonight really is our own Fat Tuesday.  The State of the Union could be a real barn-burner, a confident, perhaps strident push for the president's second-term agenda, and the Republican responses could be just as strong.

I don't know about you, but I'm hoping to getting drunk on politics tonight.