US President Barack Obama is to use his final State of the Union address scheduled for today to define his legacy and make the case for optimism amid an angst-ridden election race, White House officials said.
Seven years ago, Obama’s first address to US Congress surprised some with gloomy talk of shaken confidence, a weakened economy and uncertain times ahead.
His farewell State of the Union address might surprise some by its optimism.
Senior White House officials promise an unorthodox speech. Obama is to ditch the traditional hour-long laundry list of the year’s legislative priorities and instead look beyond his presidency, they said.
Obama is to list his administration’s achievements, from healthcare reform to gay rights to a nuclear deal with Iran to a pending trans-Pacific trade deal, officials said.
However, he will also stress the distance traveled since the throes of the 2007 to 2008 financial crisis and speak to a present he will portray as rich in promise, they said.
The speech will also challenge Americans to address unfinished business, from dealing with racial tensions to gun violence to drug abuse, officials said.
White House officials admit it is a risky strategy.
For a president with a year left in the Oval Office, misjudging the nation’s mood could make him look cripplingly out of touch.
The political backdrop is a shrill and hyper-partisan US presidential election campaign that has tapped into fears about terrorism, as well as middle-class malaise spurred by a lost decade of wage growth.
Obama is unlikely to dwell on this year’s election race directly, but in embracing optimism, the White House hopes to draw a sharp contrast with Republicans.
If Obama manages to kindle a sense of optimism, supporters hope it could help define a political epoch, much as former US president Lyndon Johnson did when declaring a “war on poverty” or when former US president John F. Kennedy announced the moon landing.
Obama has long thought of his presidency in such historic terms.
However, the broad sweep of his speech is also born of necessity — he faces a hostile Republican Congress, united only in its disdain for him and his agenda.
Obama can expect some bipartisan support for a call to enact criminal justice reform, but efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison or improve ties with Cuba would require unilateral executive action.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not