State Of The Union: White House Releases Behind-The-Scenes Video

The White House released a behind-the-scenes look at the writing of the 2012 State of the Union Address Tuesday to its YouTube account.

The video shows President Barack Obama's advisers and speechwriters writing and rewriting the speech and discussing its importance.

(Video above via YouTube.)

"The bad news is that it's not there yet," says Obama in the video. "We're making progress," he adds later.

Senior Adviser David Plouffe, Director of Domestic Policy Council Celia Munoz and Director of the National Economic Council Gene Sperling are prominently featured.

Policies that make the State of the Union are like "players that make the all-star team," says Sperling in the video.

The Huffington Post's Jen Bendery and Joy Resmovits reported that Obama will cast 2012 as a "make or break moment for the middle class and those trying to reach it" in Tuesday night's address at 9 p.m.:

Obama will frame his speech around "the basic American promise" -- that if you work hard, you can succeed economically -- and emphasize that "no challenge is more urgent" than preserving this promise. He will also highlight that he has created 3.2 million jobs in the last two years. On the foreign policy front, Obama will call attention to the fact that, "for the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq."