While I don't have a dog in the fight yet as an LPR, I do quite like Obama's speech-making skills. Maybe having both Biden and Boehner sitting behind during the speech makes it more entertaining. Boehner looked like he just passed a kidney stone when Obama mentioned taxing the 1% further.

Good for you for watching. What were the other highlights?

I agree Obama talks good, but Lame Duck. Next please. I dread being responsible for voting for the next guy.

Obama got the last laugh with this:

I like Obama, and I believe he's the most underrated US president of our generation.

Nonetheless, our well-intentioned leaders need to be very mindful not to go too far with their aspirations to limit wealth for the "common good".

Wealth is the engine that drives any economy. Overzealous penalisation of prosperity won't make anyone more prosperous (except for the privileged, of course). Surely I needn't reminisce Labour's well-intentioned near-impoverishment of the UK for the "common good".

Having said that, what's next may well be equally as troubling ...in the opposite direction...

Biden looks happy and vague as usual, probably thinking about 1987.
Biden Says Life Better Than It Was 4 Years Ago But Nothing Can Touch Summer Of '87 | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Sidenote, the "Diamond" Joe Biden character is greatest Onion creation in history. Every article is gold. My particular favorite:
Shirtless Biden Washes Trans Am In White House Driveway | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

I think in the long run, history will view him quite positively.

I certainly do not agree with all of his actions, a naivety in his approach to social engineering for example, however I do think if both sides worked together America could be much more of a powerhouse than it is.

Stock market has been dynamic the past few years...

But long term...climate change, employment issues, off shoring, manufacturing automation, terrorism, surveillance, corporate influence, voter apathy, corruption..

There are certainly challenges for whomever.

The decline and fall certainly pre dates Obama, but nothing he has done has helped arrest the slide.

I think his legacy will be one of wasted opportunities.

Prior to the 2008/9 crash, there were two substantial financial downturns in the last century.

One of them gave four terms to Franklin Roosevelt and marginalized the Republican party for the better part of two decades.

The other made Reagan a hero to at least some of the country.

The GOP did not want Obama to become another Reagan or FDR, or for that matter, a popular two-term president such as Clinton. Bipartisanship does not help the Republican party to win elections.

or Democrats

That unscripted moment was fun!

David Brooks, commentating for the PBS NewsHour, took Obama to task for that little aside, saying it showed Obama's unattractive "competitive" streak in that he couldn't let the Republicans' burst of applause go uncontested.

It struck me as strange that a savvy commentator like Brooks would criticize "competitiveness" in a US president.... (What else got him into the office??)

It is weird isn't it...one half of the government sees its primary job as preventing the other half from implementing its policies.

And improving things for the general populace to be secondary.

Where does the general populace come into this?

I was generalising.
Wishful thinking I suppose.