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President Obama, confronting a Congress in which Republicans have been determined to stymie him, will use his third State of the Union address on Tuesday night to offer a populist pitch for greater economic fairness as part of his re-election campaign.

“We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by,” Mr. Obama says in brief excerpts of the speech released by the White House on Tuesday evening. “Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules.”...

...And while Mr. Obama’s themes are cast in terms of seemingly universal appeal, like economic fairness, fiscal frugality, efficiency in government and national pride, on almost every point there are profound differences between the political parties that no number of applause lines can really bridge.

He will repeat — this time, directly to a Congressional audience — his frequent warnings on the campaign trail that he would use executive powers to force action where he could....

President Barack Obama vowed to restore the promise of broad-based U.S. prosperity and “fight obstruction with action” in dealing with Congress, as he runs for re-election with the economy still struggling to recover from the recession.

Obama’s State of the Union address tonight sets out both his policy priorities and his campaign themes. In excerpts released by the White House, he combines a call to rebuild the U.S. economy on a stronger foundation with a promise to confront critics who stand in the way.

“We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by,” Obama will say, according to the excerpts. “Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.” ...

...the president will lay out what he calls a “blueprint” for revitalizing the economy, emphasizing a rebirth for U.S. manufacturing, bolstering domestic energy production and training workers.

“What’s at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values,” Obama will say...

...Obama said over the weekend that tonight’s address will serve as a “bookend” to one he delivered Dec. 6 in Osawatomie, Kansas, that invoked the populism of President Theodore Roosevelt. Economic inequality has left millions of Americans feeling that “the basic bargain that made this country great has eroded,” he said.

As he did then, Obama tonight says renewing the promise of the U.S. as a place where hard work is rewarded is “the defining issue of our time.”

That means more “fairness” is needed in the tax code and in making sure that financial companies play by the same rules as other businesses, according to Obama...

Gil Dobie wrote:How can anyone have a Big "O" over the state of our nation

Chris Matthews: I Never Heard of Congressional Insider Trading Until Obama Mentioned it Tonight

By: Noel Sheppard | January 25, 2012 | 09:39

The ignorance of television news anchors is at times breathtaking.
Chris Matthews, a man with two nationally televised programs, said Tuesday night on MSNBC that until President Obama brought it up during the State of the Union address, he had never heard of Congressional insider trading (video follows with transcript and commentary):


Read more: http://newsbusters.org/#ixzz1kUPKQCeg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;