US President Barack Obama gave Americans a sign of how he’ll lead the country in the run up to next year’s election, as he used his State of the Union address to stake out ground in the political center and call on Republicans and Democrats to work together to revive the US economy.
The nationally televised speech on Tuesday night was Obama’s first appearance before Congress since opposition Republicans took control of the House of Representatives earlier this month. It marked the midpoint of his presidential term, as he rebounds from the Democrats’ electoral defeat in November. The speech also came as he begins positioning himself for next year’s re-election campaign.
Obama kept the focus on the economy, calling for both parties to unite behind his program of cuts and spending, saying: “We will move forward together or not at all.”
PHOTO: AFP
He proposed no major initiatives comparable to the health care overhaul that dominated the first two years of his presidency, instead outlining an agenda aimed at both ends of the political spectrum.
For Democrats, he defended his health care plan, opposed privatization of the Social Security pension program and called for ending tax cuts for the rich. He also proposed a burst of spending on education, research, technology and transportation to make the US more competitive with emerging economic powers like China and India.
However, Obama also backed some top priorities of Republicans. He called for freezing some federal spending, cutting the corporate tax rate, shaking up the federal government and eliminating lawmakers’ pet projects.
Though Obama won some cheers from Republicans, they remain dissatisfied with his efforts to cut the deficit, their core issue.
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, giving the official Republican response, said the US was at “a tipping point” leading to a dire future if federal deficits aren’t trimmed.
Obama spoke to a television audience in the millions and a Congress sobered by the assassination attempt against one if its own members, Gabrielle Giffords. She was seriously wounded in the shooting rampage in Tucson, Arizona, that killed six people. Her seat sat empty.
Obama entered the House chamber to prolonged applause, and to the unusual sight of Republicans and Democrats seated next to one another rather than on different sides of the center aisle, in a show of support and civility following Giffords’ shooting. And he began on a graceful note, taking a moment to congratulate John Boehner, the new Republican speaker of the House.
Calling for a new day of cooperation, Obama said: “What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together tonight but whether we can work together tomorrow.”
In a speech with little focus on national security, Obama appeared to close the door on keeping any significant US military presence in Iraq beyond the end of the year.
“This year, our civilians will forge a lasting partnership with the Iraqi people while we finish the job of bringing our troops out of Iraq,” he said.
The president reiterated his call for a comprehensive immigration bill, although there appears little appetite for it in Congress.
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS