President Barack Obama is set to deliver his final State of the Union address on Tuesday night, and experts believe he will use the opportunity to try to define his legacy and set the tone for the next president, who he believes might well be former Secrertary of State Hillary Clinton.

Expectations

Norm Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, told ABC News that the speech would likely be markedly different from Obama's previous seven annual appearances before the joint session of Congress.

"It's not going to be a laundry list of things on the agenda" Ornstein explained.

Obama himself, meanwhile, offered a preview in a video message sent to supporters on Jan 6.

"What I want to focus on in this State of the Union address (is) not just the remarkable progress we've made, not just what I want to get done in the year ahead," the president said, "but what we all need to do together in the years to come."

Obama's final State of the Union address, meanwhile, comes at a time of intense conflict with the GOP-controlled legislative branch, CNN recalled. About a week ago, the president bypassed Congress by using his executive authority to expand gun rules, a move harshly criticized by many Republicans.

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told the news channel that Obama might pit Americans watching on television against their representatives, his in-person audience.

"You'll hear the president talk about making sure that every American has a chance to influence this democracy," McDonough said, "not the select few, not the millionaires and the billionaires, but every American."

SOTU History

The address is an executive obligation defined by Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which stipulates that the president "shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."

By tradition, the president appears before Congress annually in late January or early February, and most incumbents since Woodrow Wilson have chosen to deliver speeches before lawmakers on Capitol Hill rather than by submitting a written report to Congress.

SOTU Live

The address will begain at 9 p.m. EST.

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