Video: State of the Union Preview

President of the Economic Policy Institute Lawrence Mishel said today on "Washington Unplugged" that he is heartened that ten of the thirteen pages of President Obama's draft of tonight's State of the Union address are focused on the economy.

"I hope he stops being so defensive," Mishel said of Mr. Obama's reaction to the national deficit. "He is dealing with a ten alarm fire and his critics are the one's that set the fire ablaze. He needs to be really aggressive."

"The whole idea that spending is out of control is false," Mishel told moderator Bob Orr. "Concerns about the deficit," he complained, "are trumping concerns about creating jobs. You can't have it both ways."

Washington Post health policy reporter Ceci Conolly agreed with Mishel that the president needs to show some chutzpa in his speech tonight.

"We have been hearing from Democrats up on Capitol Hill for many months a certain frustration with this president," she said. "He was reluctant to, really unwilling to step in on some of those internal fights with the Democratic party and say where he came down. That was part of the reason why it dragged on."

She explained that one of the most important thing the president needs to do is to "calm down a jittery Congress."

Finally, Josh Green, a senior political writer at the Atlantic explained who Mr. Obama'a audience is tonight – and it is not just Democrats. "

"They type of people that he is going to talk to tonight are the people who voted for him in Massachusettes then turned around and elected Scott Brown to the Senate last week," Green explained.

Watch the full roundtable above.

Special Report: Obama's 2010 State of the Union

"Washington Unplugged" appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.