Congressional Republicans wanted to intervene in Libya's civil war -- until President Barack Obama intervened, and then they were against it. They wanted a payroll-tax cut until Obama wanted one, and then they tried to kill it. Republicans favored an individual mandate to reform health insurance until the Democrats passed one, and then they were opposed to that, too.

We've reached the point in Obama's presidency where, if he really wants something to happen, he would be better off just coming out against it and then sitting back and watching it sail through Congress. Because no matter what he proposes in his State of the Union address Tuesday night -- Medicare reform, more infrastructure, tougher sanctions on Iran -- it's sure to be cheered by Democrats in Congress and jeered by congressional Republicans who have gone all in at this point to oppose anything the president recommends.

So after recapping his foreign policy wins -- killing Osama bin Laden; toppling Muammar Qaddafi; and signing trade deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea -- Obama should forgo the pros and cons of his legislative agenda and put the focus on the big picture of how he plans to move the country from point A to point B and how he'll pay for it.

Frankly, that's about all the bandwidth people have, anyway. And here's what he should say:

"I'm rich."

That's it. Americans like rich people -- we can't help ourselves. People make fun of the Kardashians, but they envy their jet-set lifestyle. Some kids grow up wanting to be Mos Def, but most of them want to be Jay-Z. Newt Gingrich does his best to portray Mitt Romney as Richie Rich, but he's secretly mad that his money's not as long. So the best way for Obama to win the argument when it comes to taxes is to remind people that he's a multimillionaire, too.

The federal budget -- in Obama's second term or another president's first -- hinges on top marginal tax rates staying at Bush-era lows or returning to Clinton-era rates. Obama wants to raise top marginal rates, but Republicans -- who want to lower them -- keep winning that argument because they've tagged any increase in taxes as "class warfare" or, more recently, "wealth envy." They say that Obama wants to punish the rich for being rich, while they claim that their plan makes everyone rich -- and who's against that?