Obama uses key speech to try to jolt presidency

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers his first State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington. The embattled president vowed in to make job growth his topmost priority, as he looked to reignite his stalling presidency. AP/Tim Sloan

President Barack Obama, fighting to recharge his embattled presidency, used his first State of the Union address to promise that he would get millions of Americans back to work even as he tackles the soaring U.S. deficit.

Obama also urged Congress in his speech Wednesday to press ahead with his health care overhaul, his top domestic priority, despite an electoral setback that seemed to derail his plans.

While declaring that "our union is strong," Obama warned the United States will struggle to keep up with other countries if it postpones fixes to health care, energy, education and more.

"Washington has been telling us to wait for decades, even as the problems have grown worse," he said. "Meanwhile, China's not waiting to revamp its economy. Germany's not waiting. India's not waiting."

The State of the Union speech is traditionally one of the most closely watched events on the U.S. political calendar. Presidents lay out their priorities for the year before both chambers of Congress and a nationwide TV audience of millions.

Obama's speech Wednesday was especially critical, coming one week after Republicans won the Massachusetts Senate seat long held by Democrat stalwart Edward M. Kennedy. Democrats were seen as losing the support of voters troubled by high unemployment, the huge federal deficit and the acrimony and behind-the-scenes dealmaking in Washington politics.

That defeat could be ominous for Democrats ahead of the November congressional and gubernatorial elections. Democrats, especially those running for re-election in moderate or conservative states, may be more reluctant to follow the lead of Obama, whose popularity has fallen.

Obama acknowledged the problems.

"I campaigned on the promise of change, change we can believe in, the slogan went," he said. "And right now, I know there are many Americans who aren't sure if they still believe we can change or at least, that I can deliver it."

The biggest change Obama has sought has been his health care plan, aimed at extending coverage to the tens of millions Americans now lacking insurance. Democrats appeared poised to pass a sweeping overhaul before the Massachusetts election denied them the supermajority needed to overcome Republican procedural hurdles. Worries about the health care proposal were seen as contributing to the loss.

Obama urged lawmakers to take another look at his plan.

"Do not walk away from reform," he said. "Not now. Not when we are so close."

Obama was at times conciliatory, other times defiant. He revived his campaign theme of bipartisanship, bemoaning a divided Washington "where every day is Election Day." Yet he also attacked Republican leaders.

"Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it's not leadership," he said.

Republicans applauded Obama when he entered the chamber and craned to welcome Michelle Obama. But bipartisanship disappeared early, with Republicans sitting stone-faced through several rounds of emphatic Democratic cheering.

In the Republican response to the speech, Virginia's new governor, Bob McDonnell, said Democratic policies are resulting in an unsustainable level of debt. He said Americans want affordable health care, but they don't want the government to run it.

"Top-down, one-size-fits-all decision-making should not replace the personal choices of free people in a free market," McDonnell said.

In a shift from addresses by previous presidents, foreign policy took a back seat. Obama made no mention of three of the toughest challenges he faced in his first year: failing to close the terrorist prison compound at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, failing to get Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace negotiations, and struggling with the al-Qaida havens in Pakistan that are at the core of the terrorist threat to America.

He proclaimed some success, saying that "far more" al-Qaida terrorists were killed under his watch last year in the U.S.-led global fight than in 2008.

Obama devoted about two-thirds of his speech to the economic worries foremost on Americans' minds. He emphasized his ideas for restoring job growth while taming budget deficits.

Declaring that "I know the anxieties" of Americans' struggling to pay the bills while big banks get bailouts and bonuses, Obama prodded Congress to enact a second stimulus package "without delay," urging that it contain help for small businesses and funding for infrastructure projects.

Also, fine-tuning a plan first announced in October, Obama said he will initiate a $30 billion program to provide money to community banks at low rates, if they boost lending to small businesses. The money would come from balances left in the $700 billion Wall Street rescue fund - a program "about as popular as a root canal" that Obama made of point of saying "I hated."

But while supporting the debt-financed jobs bill, Obama said he would veto any bills that do not adhere to his demand for a three-year freeze on some domestic spending. He announced a new, though nonbinding bipartisan deficit-reduction task force.

Obama is keeping to the tradition of taking his themes on the road. He will travel to Florida on Thursday to announce $8 billion in grants for high-speed rail development.