Hello, everybody. In what could be his last State of the Union address of either his first term or as President, Barack Obama on Tuesday night made jobs the center of attention as his re-election campaign is already underway. In the 1 hour and 10 minute speech before Congress (including retiring Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona) and a worldwide television audience, Obama said that America's economy is gradually recovering from a near-fatal recession and that he's vowing to shrink the gap between the rich and poor though he also stated that a million jobs were created in the last 22 months.

Intoning that "we can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by; or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules", Obama laid out plans including steps to help students afford college, troubled homeowners to refinance their homes, and tax cuts for manufacturers. Another proposal is for a crackdown on financial and mortgage fraud, with the establishment of a Financial Crimes Unit as one of the goals.

In terms of national defense, he started the speech with Osama bin Laden no longer threatening America with thunderous roars. And with Iraq out of the picture for good with Afghanistan to later follow, he turned the attention to Iran and preventing them from acquiring nuclear weapons, hoping for a "peaceful resolution" in lieu of military action. 

Obama will follow all this up by hitting the road later this week; first on Wednesday to Iowa and Arizona to tour manufacturing, then Nevada and Colorado on Thursday with energy as the theme, and finally talking about college, education, and training in Michigan on Friday.

But we started this busy day with the release of Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney releasing his tax records...as were the nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards both at the same time! "Hugo" leads the way with 11 including Director (Martin Scorsese) and Best Picture of 2011; the other eight for that "The Artist" (not far behind with 10), "The Descendants", "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close", "The Help", "Midnight in Paris", "Moneyball", "The Tree of Life", and "War Horse."

It'll be a battle of the hunks between George Clooney and Brad Pitt for Best Actor (along with Demian Bichir, Jean Dujardin, and Gary Oldman), while in Best Actress, it's all about Meryl Streep (in her 17th nomination!) vs. Michelle Williams with fellow veterans Glenn Close and Viola Davis and newcomer Rooney Mara. On the Supporting Acting spectrum, we have Jonah Hill and Melissa McCarthy, who wants to be the second actress after Helen Hunt to add an Oscar to go along with the Emmy she already got a few months ago.

As for Shailene Woodley, Michael Fassbender, Albert Brooks, and Madonna...their Oscar race is over.

Billy Crystal returns after a few years' hiatus to preside over the festivities as the 84th Academy Awards will be given out February 26 on ABC. And considering that there are nine Best Picture nominees instead of the usual five, be prepared for what could be the longest "It's a wonderful night for Oscar..." medley ever! So long and stay strong.