In tonight’s State of the Union address, advisers say President Barack
Obama doesn’t plan to reshape his agenda as much as better explain and
defend it.
• He’ll map a way forward for mired health care legislation, facing
several options for passage. With each option deeply problematic, White
House advisers continued to wrestle with that portion of the speech in
particular late Tuesday. Obama planned to acknowledge that the long,
messy health care debate has soured many on the idea and try to make a
far-reaching overhaul relevant and attractive again to voters. “We have
to move forward in a way that recaptures that sense of opening things up
more,” he told ABC.
• He’ll talk about why he thinks the nation’s future economic health
also depends on reshaping financial industry regulations to place
tighter rules on Wall Street, another immediate domestic priority. White
House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama will detail “what he
would find acceptable on that.”
• He’ll renew his call for immigration reform, a volatile issue once
considered a first-year priority but lately sent to the back burner.
Obama is expected to prod Congress to craft a plan to tighten the
Mexican border, crack down on businesses exploiting undocumented workers
and resolve the status of roughly 12 million illegal immigrants.
• He will give specifics on how he believes Washington’s combative,
partisan, gridlocked ways can be changed.
Other issues expected to get a mention are:
•A record $8.8 billion in federal funding in the next fiscal year to
help military families with child care, counseling, financial services
and other programs, a top priority for first lady Michelle Obama.
•The president’s campaign promise, as yet unfulfilled, to lift the ban
on gays serving openly in the military.
•A new plan for a better and quicker response to bioterrorism threats.
Obama’s speech to tout plans for boosting economy
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