US President Barack Obama vowed to reverse a tide of economic inequality threatening the American dream on Tuesday, seeking to outflank Republicans and revive a second term blighted by self-inflicted wounds and partisan warfare.
In his annual State of the Union address, Obama promised to wield his executive powers in a “year of action” to lift up workers, improve education and clean the environment if his foes in the US Congress balked at more sweeping action.
“America does not stand still — and neither will I,” Obama said, talking past the lawmakers gathered in the US House of Representatives, directly to millions of television viewers.
Photo: Bloomberg
“Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled and too many still aren’t working at all,” he said.
“Our job is to reverse these trends,” Obama said, pounding out his points with a punchy, optimistic delivery, apparently keen to suggest that despite five grueling years he still has energy and purpose for his task.
While focusing squarely on a domestic audience, Obama strayed into foreign policy only briefly during the one hour, 16 minute speech, as his Cabinet and military brass looked on.
He vowed to support democracy in Ukraine, warned that al-Qaeda’s threat had evolved and yet again urged Congress to let him close the “war on terror” camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
However, he mostly mined a political seam that has proven rich in the past, billing himself as the champion of middle-class families fighting to overcome the worst recession since the Great Depression.
He opened on an upbeat note, saying that thanks to “five years of grit” by the American people, the US economy was finally poised for a “breakthrough.”
“The US is better positioned for the 21st century than any other nation on Earth,” Obama said, touting the lowest unemployment rate in five years and a rebounding housing market.
He said the “defining project of our generation is to restore” the promise of equality of opportunity for all US citizens.
He promised to use executive action to raise the minimum wage for federal workers on new contracts from US$7.25 to US$10.10 per hour and to create a new retirement savings “starter” scheme to help millions of Americans.
Obama called on corporate executives to pledge not to discriminate against long-term unemployed job seekers and to introduce new energy-efficient fuel standards for trucks, while working with cities and states to promote cleaner power.
However, Obama’s vows of action were likely to reach far fewer Americans than could be helped through legislation.
He called on lawmakers to “say yes, give America a raise,” but they appear unlikely to heed his call.
Such is the stranglehold Republicans have clamped on Congress that much of Obama’s second-term agenda is stillborn.
Obama’s subtext was reviving a presidency that seems to be racing toward early lame duck status after a disastrous year last year.
He also needs to shield allied lawmakers from being pulled down by his relative unpopularity — he has a 43-percent approval rating — and Democrats are in peril of losing the Senate in mid-term elections.
The president’s reputation was sullied by the disastrous rollout of his signature healthcare law, a government shutdown drama and perceived missteps abroad last year.
He admitted the Obamacare Web site needed fixing, but fiercely defended the principle of expanding coverage to almost all Americans, which Republicans have voted over 40 times to repeal.
In the official Republican response, congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers promised Americans an agenda that “empowers you, not the government.”
House Speaker John Boehner said Obama’s address showed the president is running on empty.
With power ebbing at home, second-term presidents often look for opportunity abroad.
However, with the US facing challenges from Syria to the South China Sea, there are few easy victories on offer for Obama.
He defended an interim nuclear deal with Iran, which has many skeptics in Congress, as the best way to resolve a top security challenge “without the risks of war.”
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
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