Obama Delivers 2012 State of the Union Address

January 25th, 2012

President Barack Obama delivering the 2012 State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 24, 2012.

U.S. President Barack Obama is laying out a blueprint for an economy he says “is built to last” – an economy built on manufacturing, energy, skills for American workers, and what he describes as “a renewal of American values.”

In his State of the Union address, President Obama called on U.S. lawmakers to follow the example of the nation’s troops and work together to form a United States that leads the world in education, attracts a “new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs” and controls its own energy. He called for an economy in which hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded.

Mr. Obama said keeping that American promise is “the defining issue of our time,” and he said no challenge is more urgent.

A Look at President Obama’s Previous State of the Union Addresses

2011: Mr. Obama proposed a partial government spending freeze, and called for more investment in education and infrastructure. He said the war in Iraq is coming to an end. He said the U.S. stands with the people of Tunisia, whose protests drove their president out of the country.
2010: Mr. Obama urged Americans to work together to solve the damaged economy and other problems. He said the U.S. faces a deficit of trust in government. He also pledged to remove U.S. combat troops from Iraq and said the U.S. will succeed in Afghanistan.
2009: While not technically a State of the Union, Mr. Obama delivered a speech on the economy to a joint session of Congress one month after taking office. He said years of irresponsibility and short-term thinking had brought a “day of reckoning.”

The president said Americans can either “settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well” while a growing number “barely get by,” or “restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules.”

He touted his administration’s achievements in creating jobs and cutting the deficit, and he warned Republicans in Congress that he will fight any effort to return to an economy that he said was “weakened by outsourcing, bad debt and phony financial profits.”

The president’s speech on the nation’s progress comes as he faces a contentious re-election bid this year. He is speaking before a joint session of the U.S. Congress and millions of television viewers.

The president’s State of the Union speech falls between two critical Republican presidential primaries – South Carolina last Saturday and Florida next week.

Political analysts will watch closely to see what effect this address will have on Mr. Obama’s public approval ratings, which, according to the Gallup polling organization, have averaged about 44 percent this year.