State of the Union 2011
What is the State of the Union speech?
US President Barack Obama will call for new public spending to create jobs in his state of the union address, setting up a clash with opponents who say cuts to government are the way forward. In the president’s yearly address to Congress, Mr Obama is expected to call for new investment in education, research and infrastructure.
Mr Obama said at the weekend creating jobs was his “number one focus”. Republicans have warned they will reject his calls for added spending.
BBC North America editor Mark Mardell says State of the Union speeches are rarely momentous, but they are opportunities. Last year Mr Obama was watched by 48 million people.
The president can use the speech to condition the debate ahead of his 2012 re-election bid, claiming the mantle of reasonableness and consensus, our correspondent says.
To a television audience in the millions, Obama addressed a Congress sobered by the assassination attempt against one if its own members, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Her seat sat empty, and many lawmakers of competing parties sat together in a show of civility. Yet differences were still evident, as when Democrats stood to applaud his comments on his health care law, while Republicans sat mute next to them.
The president unveiled an agenda of carefully balanced political goals: a burst of spending on education, research, technology and transportation to make the nation more competitive, alongside pledges, in the strongest terms of his presidency, to cut the deficit and smack down spending deemed wasteful to America.
source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
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