Keith Girard
President Barack Obama is expected to issue a broad challenge to Congress to back his plans to create jobs and lift the economy out of the doldrums, while running a smarter, not more expensive government.
The State of the Union speech, scheduled for 9pm Eastern and live streamed by TheImproper will hopefully convince a deadlocked Congress to respond to the mandate he received in the last election.
Obama won every key swing state but one in the 2012 election handing his Republican opponent Mitt Romney a decisive defeat along with his hard-right-wing supporters. Republican in Congress, however, are continuing to block the president’s agenda.
Issues Facing the Nation
Domestic Issues
- The Economy in General
- Stubborn Unemployment
- Taxes
- Immigration Reform
- Climate Change
- Gay Rights
- Voting Procedures
International Issues
- Bringing Home Troops in Afghanistan
- North Korean Nuclear Threat
- Iranian Nuclear Development
- Unrest in the Middle East
- Relations With China, Russia
Among the key issues the president is expected to address are higher taxes for the wealthy, tighter gun control laws and a sweeping overhaul of immigration laws.
With the unemployment rate officially at 7.9 percent, and likely higher because of those who have stopped looking for jobs, the economy will once again be a major focus of his administration. Unemployment among minorities, people in their 20s and college graduates is still locked in double digits.
Economists such as Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman have repeatedly urged the president to spend more on infrastructure improvements, manufacturing and the housing debt crisis to get the country moving again.
The middle class which swept him to victory in the November election will also be a central theme. “It is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few,” he says, according to excerpts of his addressed released by the White House.
He also called on government to encourage free enterprise, reward individual initiative, and “open the doors of opportunity to every child across this great nation of ours.”
To watch the president’s addressed steamed live over the Internet, click here or below to go.
