Obama girds for State of the Union address. His Republican opponents do too.

"He just got his tax hike on the wealthy, and you can't in this town every three months raise taxes. Again, every time, that's his response,” Cantor said Sunday. "We've got a spending problem, everybody knows it. The House has put forward an alternative plan, and there's been no response in any serious way from the Senate and the White House.”

 Obama will be addressing national security and foreign policy issues as well Tuesday night. At the moment, he’s facing challenges here.

Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel is said to have no intention of withdrawing despite a Senate confirmation hearing most observers (including Democrats) found embarrassingly weak.

But on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina said he’d block a vote on former Sen. Hagel if the White House doesn’t answer questions about its response to the terrorist attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. And while CIA nominee John Brennan did much better in his confirmation hearing last week (and is a highly-regarded intelligence professional), Sen. Graham said he’s inclined to block that nomination too without more answers on Benghazi.

“I don’t think we should allow Brennan to go forward to the CIA directorship, Hagel to be confirmed for secretary of Defense, until the White House gives us an accounting," Graham said. "Did the president ever pick up the phone and call anyone in the Libyan government to help these folks?”

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain – Hagel’s chief inquisitor during the Pentagon nominee’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing – criticized what he sees as the administration’s failure to intervene on behalf of rebels in Syria, calling it "one of the most shameful chapters in American history” on “Fox News Sunday.”

“Obama overruled Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top advisors last year when he ruled out U.S attempts to arm Syrian rebels, it was revealed last week,” Politico reported Sunday. “Republicans have slammed Obama for the move, saying US intervention could have already led to the overthrow of Syrian President Basher Assad. Fighting between government forces and Syrian rebels has led to thousands of deaths and a growing refugee crisis.”

It’s unclear whether Obama will address this issue in his State of the Union address Tuesday.

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