Actually, @barackobama can ‘avoid another lost year’ quite easily.

Not that he will, mind you.

The countdown is on to President Barack Obama‘s fifth State of the Union address next Tuesday. The White House is still finalizing the policy proposals the address will include, following weeks of soliciting ideas. Look for income inequality, energy, climate change, college affordability and early childhood education as highlights.

But the State of the Union address is about more than just the speech. For a sitting president, it’s essentially a fresh start. And, more than any time in his presidency, Mr. Obama needs one of those. The year 2013 was a mostly empty year, with little to no movement on the White House’s legislative agenda (The president has rushed in recent weeks to make good on promises from last year’s State of the Union address). The year was capped by a botched rollout of Mr. Obama’s signature health care law, a self-inflicted wound that handed Republicans a political cudgel.

And he’s got just three years left. Continue reading Actually, @barackobama can ‘avoid another lost year’ quite easily.