SOTU Preview: Obama To Focus Speech On Jobs, Innovation, Cooperation
Via: Huffington Post
JULIE PACE 01/22/11 11:55 PM
WASHINGTON — Under pressure to energize the economy, President Barack Obama said Saturday he will use his State of the Union address to outline an agenda to create jobs now and boost American competitiveness over the long term.
Heading quickly into re-election mode, Obama is expected to use Tuesday’s prime-time speech to promote spending on innovation while also promising to reduce the national debt and cooperate with emboldened Republicans.
“I’m focused on making sure the economy is working for everybody, for the entire American family,” Obama said Saturday in an uncommon preview of his speech, offered up in an online video to his supporters late Saturday afternoon. The president announced that the economy would be the main topic of his speech, a nod to how important that issue is to the country’s standing and his own as well.
At the halfway point of his term, Obama said the economy is on firmer footing than it was two years ago: it is growing again, albeit slowly, while the stock market is rising, and corporate profits are climbing. But with the unemployment rate stubbornly stuck above 9 percent, Obama will signal a shift Tuesday from short-term stabilization policies toward ones focused on job creation and longer-term growth.
Obama offered no details on specific proposals he will call for in his address, though he has offered hints in recent weeks.
Well, were liable to hear anything but meat frying and money jingling. I still have hope though.
What I don’t want to hear is the small business loan story. I think most of us have figured out how that contributes to the growth of more defence industry.
What I do want to hear is the return of Free Enterprise to the grass roots and the deregulation
of laws, codes, and enforcement that put a stranglehold on any small business that might compete with the corporate octupus that is being passed off as Democratic government.
I will listen to the sotu, but will keep one ear to the ground. I will listen, while i dig my toes into the Oregon mud and feel for the roots that promise a green countryside and homegrown food that anyone can bring to market…G: