* Tribune…

(T)here are three things President Barack Obama won’t do during his swing through Springfield on Wednesday:

Play “back-seat driver” and offer detailed advice to try to solve the state’s budget stalemate. Sit down one-on-one with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner for a beer. And try to negotiate a peace accord between Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Previewing the trip, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Obama will pick up the themes of his State of the Union speech in January and urge the country to move past partisan divisions. […]

As for the state’s budget impasse, his call for bipartisanship could help, but he won’t be putting forth detailed remedies, Earnest said. For one thing, Obama’s proposed federal budget comes up the day before his trip to Illinois. “We’ve got our hands full here,” the spokesman said.

* AP…

“This is actually something we’ve been talking about for a while,” Earnest said in a conference call. “There has always sort of been the sense that going back to Springfield on the anniversary of his announcement speech would be fun to do. And it would serve as the background for a discussion about the kind of potential that the president sees in the country.”

* Lynn Sweet…

“The president views this as an opportunity to not offer advice or be a back-seat driver for running the state government of Illinois but rather an opportunity to deliver a broader message about the value and potential benefit associated with trying to find common ground,” Earnest said.

* Sweet asked why this visit is a good idea, considering Springfield’s partisan gridlock…

“It’s a good idea because the president’s experience when he served in Springfield was different than the situation the president encountered in Washington. And the president does see this as a good backdrop to talk about the kinds of benefits that can be realized when our citizens and our elected representatives don’t allow themselves to be so easily divided.”

Um, OK.

* More Sweetness…

Rauner singled out his two big issues – term limits and redistricting — in focusing on what he wants Obama to talk about, suggesting incorrectly that Obama backs Rauner’s term-limit crusade.

Rauner is not going to get that one-on-one beer he sought with Obama. He will be greeting him on the tarmac of the airport in Springfield.

* Back to the AP…

While Obama did discuss term limits when in Ethiopia last summer delivering a speech to the people of Africa, saying “old thinking can be a stubborn thing,” Earnest said Monday that Obama’s message there was not a general call for term limits. He said Obama was telling leaders not to overcome limits already imposed, “either by ignoring them or by coercing the government to change the rules just for them.”

* The most interesting nugget…

Obama, Earnest said, sees his speech as an opportunity “to deliver a broader message about the value and potential benefits associated with trying to find common ground. … That doesn’t mean that anybody needs to capitulate on their most strongly held principles. That typically is not a recipe for success, either.”