A yes-we-can speech, and a dose of reality

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   >>> "nightly news" begins now.

   >>> good evening. it's estimated 4 million americans watch their president on television last night. they watched an unusual speech at an unusual time in this country. they saw a president admit his own faults while opening prodding congress, even the supreme court . he laid out where he wants the country to go and said he's not going to quit in the effort to get there. and he noted the anger. not just what politics has become these days, but what's become of millions of americans in this economy. today he went on the road to follow up on some of last night's promises. white house correspondent savannah guthrie begins our reporting at the white house tonight. good evening.

   >> reporter: good evening, brian. the president is following what's become presidential tradition, taking his state of the union message on the road. his trip to tampa today, to promote high-speed rail projects, the first of three trips in the next week. the president looking to reconnect with the people. the president in tampa today.

   >> good to be back in the sunshine state .

   >> reporter: getting out of washington to campaign against washington .

   >> i don't want gridlock on issue after issue after issue when there are so many urgent problems to solve.

   >> the president of the united states .

   >> reporter: continuing where he left off wednesday night.

   >> despite our hardships, our union is strong. we do not give up. we do not quit.

   >> reporter: the president's 70-minute state of the union address laid out jobs as his job wants, pushing a package of small business tax breaks and chiding the republicans for sitting on their hands.

   >> i thought i would get applause on that one.

   >> reporter: the president spebt less time on his signature issue health care reform , but made an impassioned plea to fellow democrats to get it done.

   >> i will not walk away from these americans and neither should the people in this chamber.

   >> reporter: today some democrats criticized the president for not laying out a specific legislative strategy to get health care passed, but house speaker nancy pelosi said it will happen one way or the other.

   >> the fence is too high, we'll pole vault in, that doesn't work, we'll parachute in, but we are going to get health care reform passed.

   >> reporter: down in the polls and battered by a year-long health care effort that has yet to deliver, the president vented against petty politics.

   >> what frustrates the american people is a washington where every day is election day.

   >> reporter: today, republicans were skeptical.

   >> we're going to look for common ground, but we're not going to roll over on our prn s principles. we are not going to vote for things that we believe will hurt our country.

   >> reporter: well, tomorrow the president, the administration, hoping to get good economic news. gdp numbers will be out and they are hoping to hear some good economic growth .

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