Fact-Checking the State of the Union

Non-partisan website Politifact.com gives President Obama mixed reviews on factual accuracy in his State of the Union address.

• We found Obama was exaggerating the impact of the Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance when he said it would "open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign companies – to spend without limit in our elections."
• Obama was pretty much on the mark with his claim that he had opened White House visitor logs.
• Obama incorrectly described his "revolving door" policy on former lobbyists being barred from policy jobs in his administration.
• Obama exaggerated the role that "pay as you go" policies had on the budget in the 1990s.
• Obama was right that 95 percent of working families have gotten a tax cut.
• He earned a Mostly True for his claim that the nation had a $200 billion budget surplus at the start of the Bush administration and that Obama inherited a $1 trillion deficit.

--Ballard Burgher