Obama's second-year pivot: Laser focus on jobs

In Obama's first State of the Union speech Wednesday night, reducing the 10-per-cent unemployment rate and fixing wider economic troubles took priority, relegating critical issues like terrorism, Afghanistan, Iran and even the long-running domestic health care debate to footnotes.

“One year later, the worst of the (economic) storm has passed. But the devastation remains,” Obama said. “Jobs must be our number-one focus in 2010.”

The pledge comes with Obama's young presidency at a crossroads, with an economy still facing serious headwinds and his popularity waning through the first year as he failed to push much of his ambitious agenda through Congress.

U.S. presidents often divide their time roughly equally between foreign and domestic policy priorities during State of the Union addresses, held annually before a joint session of Congress and serving as a chance to reflect on the last year's successes and lay out an agenda for the new year.

Obama, though, devoted nearly two thirds of his speech to the economy, trying to make clear that he understood the frustrations of voters with the slow pace of recovery. A Pew Research Centre poll ahead of the speech found that more than 80 percent of the public considers jobs and the economy their top priority.

There were no major new measures announced, but rather a series of piecemeal proposals. Obama pressed Congress to approve a mix of spending measures and tax cuts that would encourage businesses to start hiring again.

1|2|Next Page>>

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email