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Obama launches re-election bid with State of the Union Address
Facing a tough fight for re-election, US President Barack Obama on Wednesday turned the State of the Union Address into a platform to sketch a vision of US still being a world leader to convince voters to give him a second White House innings.
Facing a tough fight for re-election, US President Barack Obama on Wednesday turned the State of the Union Address into a platform to sketch a vision of US still being a world leader to convince voters to give him a second White House innings.
Unfolding an economic blueprint pledging to build on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values, Obama vowed to take US away from outsourcing, bad debt and phony financial profits, which could be bad news for Indian companies.
Obama in his third State of the Union Address, Obama offered both his administration's priorities for the coming year and his campaign messaging for his re-election bid in November.
He defended a long list of his trademark policies -- tax increases on the wealthy, Wall Street reform, health care reform, government stimulus spending and offered proposals of interest to Republicans, like corporate tax breaks and expanded oil and gas development.
"Yes, the world is changing; no, we can't control every event. But America remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs – and as long as I am President, I intend to keep it that way," Obama said.
He called for increase on tax on the rich, penalising companies indulging in outsourcing and shipping jobs overseas and offering a new potential solution to homeowners who are struggling to refinance their home loans.
In his primetime televised speech which lasted over an hour, the US President targeted the American middle class; one of the worst sufferers of economic downturn.
