SHUSTER: Bring in someone who will watch the State of the Union, Representative Lynn Woolsey. Congresswoman, thanks for your time tonight.

LYNN WOOLSEY: Oh, thanks for having me.

SHUSTER: With the message the president laid out in his preview, does this speech strike you as a State of the Union or part of his re-election or both?

WOOLSEY: Well, it needs to be both because the country’s waiting for some big and bold leadership, and he needs to lay out the distinction between the 99 percent that he represents and the government of and for the 1 percent that, uh, particularly these new Republican presidential candidates represent, and the members, the Republican members of the House — and he can do that. He needs to have a lot — big, bold jobs plan. And he needs to talk about, uh, saving the housing problem that we’ve got going on in this country, and, uh, cutting more out of defense and ending the war in Afghanistan. People are waiting for those kinds of, uh, programs and policies and his commitment. And, uh, he can do that. His, He, He must.

SHUSTER: Well, from what you’ve heard of the president’s speech so far — specifically with jobs or housing or the military — do you think he is going to be going far enough, as far as what you want, in the speech tomorrow night?

WOOLSEY: Well, I hope he will. And I hope he’ll talk about ending the war in Afghanistan before 2014 and show us that there can be a path to a smarter security for our country, and for the United States and our national relationships—

SHUSTER: What about—

WOOLSEY: Sorry, international relationships.

SHUSTER: What about, uh, do you think he is going far enough? Or do you want to hear more from him on, essentially, pushing for a system where the rich are not holding all of the cards?

WOOLSEY: And that is — He must, uh, push for the 99 percent over the 1 percent. Because that’s the only way, that and cutting defense funding, that we will be able to have a, a jobs bill, that we’ll be able to provide jobs like the Congressional Progressive Caucus has proposed for 5 million people in two years. But that’s by cutting defense, and by, uh, making the wealthy pay their fair share.

SHUSTER: What do you make, Congresswoman, about Speaker Boehner’s response? And does that indicate that this coming year is not going to be — is it essentially going to be the same as last year when GOP obstructionism made anything, essentially, impossible?

WOOLSEY: I believe he has no intentions of making anything happen that would look like a success for the Democrats, and particularly for President Obama. And he — what he’s going to learn from that is, the people of this country know that he doesn’t care about them.

SHUSTER: There are more calls for members of Congress, like last year, to sit with members of the opposing party. Does that have any impact on fostering bipartisanship or is it really all just for show?

WOOLSEY: We’re not that, that bi- uh, you know, -partisan. We know how to get along with each other. We’re humans. We’re all in here working our fannies off, but we just don’t like what they’re working for, and we think they are going a totally wrong direction — because they are.

SHUSTER: We’re going to talk about this later in the show, but what was your reaction to the news this weekend that Representative Giffords is going to be stepping down this week?

WOOLSEY: Well, I’m so proud of her, she has, the fight she has, the battle she’s fought, the way, her dignity. And the very idea that she’s going to, uh, resign so that somebody else can run in her seat and be prepared instead of holding on to that seat until she retires is, it just says so much about who she is as an individual, and who she and Mark are as a couple. And she will be, just thinking she was going to come back, uh, kept us — there was a lot of hope for all of us. But knowing that she will concentrate on her own physical health, uh, and she’ll take care of Gabby, that’s the most important thing. And she will be leaving with, totally surrounded by love.

SHUSTER: Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey. Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining us tonight.

WOOLSEY: You’re welcome.