Obama to Deliver Second State of the Union Address

22 January 2011

US President Obama (file photo)

President Barack Obama will face a dramatically altered balance of power in the House of Representatives when he addresses Congress and the nation Tuesday in his State of the Union address.

Republicans are now in the majority in the House, and they have already approved a repeal of Mr. Obama's landmark reform of the U.S. health care system. The move was symbolic, since the bill will die in the U.S. Senate, where Democrats and Independents still hold a majority.

Presidents traditionally use State of the Union addresses to assess the nation's condition, on everything from the economy to foreign policy. They also use the speech to lay out agendas - and often propose new ideas, or changes in thinking they want Americans to consider.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says Mr. Obama is likely to focus on efforts to repair the economy.

"The steps that the president believes our country has to take to continue that economic recovery, steps that we need to take in the short term that relate to jobs, and steps that we need to take in the medium and long term to put our fiscal house in order and to increase our competitiveness and our innovation that allows us to create the jobs of tomorrow," said Gibbs.

Mr. Obama goes into this national speech enjoying a substantial positive bump in public approval ratings. This is due to legislative victories, including some made possible by his controversial compromise with Republicans to extend Bush-era tax cuts for all Americans while extending government unemployment benefits