WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama will Tuesday set out to convince Americans he is worthy of a second White House term, as he lays out a blueprint for future economic security in his State of the Union address.
Obama is expected to detail new jobs programs, plans to boost manufacturing and to call for a renewal of American economic values of fairness and opportunity in the annual showpiece speech, beginning at 9 pm (0100 GMT).
The address will be Obama's best chance for months to leverage the prestige of the presidency to his political benefit, before millions of television viewers, as the race towards November's presidential election heats up.
Seeking an emotional connection with voters, Obama will contrast his vision of an economy where the middle classes get a "fair shake" and Republican plans which he says further enrich millionaires as the economy struggles.
"This is a make or break time for the middle class," senior Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett told CNN Tuesday, laying out the populist economic pitch which forms Obama's reelection platform.
"We want to really make sure that our system is based on fairness, where everybody who plays by the same rules can exceed their wildest dreams."
Obama signaled Tuesday he will make a new effort to convince Congress to adopt a plan proposed by billionaire financier Warren Buffett for a new tax rate on the richest Americans.
First Lady Michelle Obama will welcome Buffett's secretary Debbie Bosanek to her box in the House of Representatives, to highlight the legendary investor's complaint that his staff are taxed at a higher rate on their income than he is, owing to loopholes upheld by lawmakers.
Obama is also expected to propose higher anti-fraud penalties in the financial industry and to call for increased domestic energy production, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Republicans did not wait to hear the speech to condemn it.
"It's hard not to feel a sense of disappointment even before tonight's speech is delivered," said Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell.
"While we don't yet know all of the specifics, we do know the goal. Based on what the president's aides have been telling reporters, the goal isn't to conquer the nation's problems. It's to conquer Republicans."
House Speaker John Boehner also complained about details of the speech that have leaked out, in a sign that battles between Obama and Congress over the last year will not be eased by the president's appeals for national unity.
"It sounds like we're going to see a rerun of what we've heard over the last three years -- more spending, higher taxes and more regulation," Boehner said.
Obama faces a tough political task with his speech: he must begin to convince Americans that despite high unemployment, a slow recovery and a mood of prolonged national gloom, he deserves another four years in the White House.
"We need an economy built on American manufacturing, developing the skills for American workers and a renewal of American values," the president's top political advisor David Plouffe told NBC's "Today Show" Tuesday.
Obama knows that he will have to overcome a perception that his three years in office so far have failed to turn around the economy.
Unemployment, though falling, was at is 8.5 percent in December, the housing market is moribund and only 13 percent of Americans polled by Gallup in a new survey released Monday were satisfied with the US economy.
Plouffe insisted, however, that despite what has been a "terrible recession," America is bouncing back.
"We have had over three million jobs over the last 22 months," Plouffe said.
"The manufacturing sector creating jobs for the first time since the 1990s. (The) auto industry (is) coming back. There is good news out there but the economy is weak," he said.
Senior Obama aides know that factors beyond their control -- perhaps European debt contagion spilling across the Atlantic -- could further erode Obama's prospects.
So the president is conjuring up an alternative reality -- posing as a populist warrior for the middle class dedicated to a new economy where all Americans get a "fair shake."
The speech gives Obama a high profile chance to rebut attacks on his leadership flung by hopefuls in the Republican nominating race: including from Newt Gingrich, who brands Obama an extreme "radical" and Mitt Romney who claims Obama dreams of a European-style socialist state.
Turning to foreign policy, Obama will surely highlight a promise kept to withdraw all US troops from Iraq last year, the operation that killed Osama bin Laden and likely the deepening sanctions shackling Iran over its nuclear program.
The president may also signal a tougher election year posture towards China's economic policies.
Comments
Comments are closed.