Facing a divided Congress and a dissatisfied nation, President Barack Obama will aim at getting the US economy and his own presidency back on track in his first State of the Union policy speech.
Mr Obama’s address to Congress will be underpinned by two themes — reassuring millions of Americans that he understands their struggles and convincing people that he is working to change Washington even as he finds himself working within its old political ways.
The address has enormous stakes for Mr Obama. He rode a tide of voter frustration into office and now is getting its backlash.
Mr Obama will offer fresh details about how he wants to help businesses hire again and how he hopes to salvage an overhaul of the health care system. Yet for all of the new ideas he offers, the speech will be measured largely by how well he reconnects with the public.
The agenda will sound familiar. Mr Obama says he will not retreat from the big issues he campaigned on and tried to get done in his first year, when political momentum was strong. He will push for health care reform, regulation of Wall Street, energy and immigration reform, and a global fight against terrorists.
Mr Obama also will prod Congress to enact new jobs legislation, seek a freeze on some domestic spending for three years and try to blunt the impact of a Supreme Court decision that gives corporations much more freedom to influence elections through political advertising.
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