State Of The Union Preview: Obama Underscores His Centrism

Posted by | January 23, 2011 20:12 | Filed under: Top Stories


It’s not as though President Obama hasn’t governed as a centrist, but his State of the Union Address Tuesday is likely to cement that image.

Mr. Obama previewed the themes in a video e-mailed Saturday evening to supporters who had helped in his election campaign. But the video made plain that his speech would be geared more broadly toward the political center, to independent voters and business owners and executives alienated by the expansion of government and the partisan legislative fights of the past two years.

“My No. 1 focus,” he said, “is going to be making sure that we are competitive, and we are creating jobs not just now but well into the future.”

“These are big challenges that are in front of us,” Mr. Obama also said in the video, sent to members of Organizing for America, his network of supporters from the 2008 campaign. “But we’re up to it, as long as we come together as a people — Republicans, Democrats, independents — as long as we focus on what binds us together as a people, as long as we’re willing to find common ground even as we’re having some very vigorous debates.”

The president’s advisers have signaled that he’ll be more thematic than specific.

Without going into detail, he will touch on issues like overhauling the corporate tax code and encouraging exports, and he will defend his health care law. Less clear is whether he will touch on social issues like gun control, which has become more prominent since the Arizona attack, which killed six and gravely wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords and 12 others.

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Copyright 2011 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

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