President Obama To Highlight Legacy In Last State Of The Union Address

Though it's his last State of the Union Address, President Obama and his staff have been scrambling to whip up a frenzy of interest in it.

The president has been doing interviews, conference calls, and posting online videos. Press Secretary Josh Earnest is on Instagram with behind-the-scenes material on speech preparation. The White House has even launched a site on Snapchat to attract viewers to Tuesday night's speech.

"I'm going to talk about the choices we have to make to set this country firmly on an even better, brighter course for decades to come," said Mr. Obama over the weekend about his address.

Days away from the start of his eighth and final year as president, he wants to spotlight the administration accomplishments he thinks are overlooked or taken for granted, and also lay out his vision for the rest of his term in office. He has made it clear he has no interest in cruising gently to the end of his presidency.

"I want us to be able, when we walk out this door, to say we couldn't think of anything else that we didn't try to do," the president said in this White House video posted Monday on Twitter:

"There is no next thing," said Mr. Obama. "This is it."

It's his last year and last chance to achieve the goals he has set for the nation. "I want to make sure that we maximize it," he said.

President Obama's main focus, says his spokesman, are the opportunities he wants to pursue in the time before he has to escort his successor to the 2017 inauguration.

Although the White House says not to expect a lengthy "laundry list" of proposals and objectives, expect Mr. Obama to make the case for his priorities, including reforms in the criminal justice system and Congressional approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, two examples cited Tuesday by Earnest.

Tuesday night's speech will be Mr. Obama's seventh State of the Union Address and 10th speech to a Joint Session of Congress.

Republican Leaders selected Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina to deliver the GOP response to the president.