By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
c.2011 New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama called Tuesday night for Americans to unleash their creative spirits, set aside their partisan differences and come together around a common goal of out-competing other nations in a rapidly shifting global economy.
In a State of the Union address to a newly divided Congress, Obama outlined what his advisers called his "plan to win the future" - a blueprint for spending in key areas like education, high-speed rail, clean-energy technology and high-speed Internet to help the United States weather the unsettling impact of globalization and the challenge from emerging powers like China and India.
But, at the same time, he proposed deficit-cutting measures, including a five-year freeze in spending on some domestic programs. He laid out a philosophy of a government that could be more efficient but is still necessary if the nation is to address fundamental challenges at home and abroad. Over the next decade, he said, his approach would reduce the deficit by $400 billion.
His message seemed intended to elevate his presidency above the bare-knuckled legislative gamesmanship that defined the first two years of his term. With one eye on his 2012 re-election campaign, he made the case that the nation had at long last emerged from economic crisis and could now confront longer-term issues. And after taking on an identity among many voters as a big-government liberal, he sought to reclaim the positioning he rode to the presidency in 2008, as postpartisan, pragmatic leader.
"At stake right now is not who wins the next election - after all, we just had an election," Obama said. "At stake is whether new jobs and industries take root in this country or somewhere else. It's whether the hard work and industry of our people is rewarded. It's whether we sustain the leadership that has made America not just a place on a map, but a light to the world."
The speech was light on policy proposals, reflecting both political and fiscal restraints on the administration after two years in which it achieved substantial legislative victories but lost the midterm elections, failed to bring the unemployment rate below 9 percent and watched the budget deficit rise sharply.
He did not address gun control, a hotly debated topic in the wake of the recent shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that left six people dead and 19 injured, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who suffered a grave gunshot wound to the head. Giffords' colleagues held a seat open for her in the House chamber; many wore black-and-white ribbons in her honor.
Obama did not lay out any specific plan for addressing the long-term costs of Social Security and Medicare, the biggest fiscal challenges facing the government. He talked about overhauling corporate taxes but deferred discussion about a broader restructuring of the tax code. He called for legislation to address illegal immigration but provided no details.
He set a goal of reducing dependence on polluting fuels over the next quarter-century, but without any mechanism to enforce it. And in a speech largely devoted to economic issues, he talked only generally about the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Instead, Obama used his address to sketch out the philosophical framework that would govern the remaining two years of his first term in office, as well as his re-election campaign - and to draw a contrast between himself and Republicans, who are advocating deep and immediate cuts in federal spending and a smaller role for the federal government in the economy, health care and other issues.
Obama made the case for a leaner but still active government that can play a vital role in creating the conditions for Americans to succeed in an increasingly competitive economy.
"We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world," he said.
"We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business," Obama said. "We need to take responsibility for our deficit, and reform our government. That's how our people will prosper. That's how we'll win the future."
As he contrasted the United States and other nations, Obama gave a nod to the nation's high unemployment rate, arguing that "the world has changed," and that it is no longer as easy as it once was for Americans to find a good and secure job.
"The rules have changed," he says.
But he packaged that message in optimistic phrasing about a nation that, the president said, has always risen to the challenges it has faced.
"So yes, the world has changed," Obama said. "The competition for jobs is real. But this shouldn't discourage us. It should challenge us. Remember, for all the hits we've taken these last few years, for all the naysayers predicting our decline, America still has the largest, most prosperous economy in the world."
He continued: "No workers are more productive than ours. No country has more successful companies or grants more patents to inventors and entrepreneurs. We are home to the world's best colleges and universities, where more students come to study than any other place on Earth."
Obama outlined initiatives in five areas: innovation; education; infrastructure; streamlining the federal bureaucracy and cutting the deficit. He pledged to boost the nation's spending on research and development, as a share of the total economy, to the highest levels since John F. Kennedy was president, and vowed to prepare an additional 100,000 science and math teachers by the end of the next decade.
He proposed new efforts on high-speed rail, road and airport construction and a "National Wireless Initiative" that, administration officials said, would extend the next generation of wireless coverage to 98 percent of the population.
"Our infrastructure used to be the best, but our lead has slipped," Obama said. "South Korean homes now have greater internet access than we do. Countries in Europe and Russia invest more in their roads and railways than we do. China is building faster trains and newer airports."
Saying it is imperative for the nation to tackle its deficit, Obama reiterated his support for $78 billion in cuts to the Pentagon's budget over five years, in addition to the five-year partial freeze on domestic spending. But he did not adopt any of the recommendations of the bipartisan fiscal commission he appointed to figure out ways to bring the deficit under control.
While the commission recommended an overhaul of the tax code, including for individual and corporations, Obama called only for revamping the corporate tax code, leaving the more politically complicated task of altering the code for individuals to another day.
And while the commission proposed ways to keep Social Security solvent - including by slowly raising the retirement age - Obama did not address the Social Security question, saying simply that he wanted a "bipartisan solution" to the problem, "without slashing benefits for future generations."
The official Republican response to Obama's address was delivered by Rep. Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., the chairman of the House Budget Committee. Ryan offered a far gloomier picture of the future than Obama did, making the case that spending cuts must be made immediately.
"A few years ago, reducing spending was important. Today, it's imperative. Here's why. We face a crushing burden of debt," Ryan said. "The debt will soon eclipse our entire economy, and grow to catastrophic levels in the years ahead."
Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., delivered a separate address to Tea Party supporters, also calling for deeper spending cuts.
The challenge now is for the president to sell his vision to the country.
"You have to convince the American people that this vision, which is optimistic, which is built on investment, on strengthening middle class families, is one that is more appealing than what Republicans are calling cut-and-grow," said John D. Podesta, who served as chief of staff in the Clinton White House and ran Obama's transition.
"The Republicans are preaching Castor Oil; he's preaching optimism. I think that's good.
Obama headed into the speech in surprisingly good political shape, given the drubbing Democrats took in the November midterm elections. His job approval ratings are up - in some polls, higher than 50 percent. The public is feeling more optimistic about the economy, voters are giving Obama credit for reaching out to Republicans, and the president won high marks for his speech in Tucson after the shooting there.
It was no accident that some of those who became public figures in Tucson - Daniel Hernandez, the intern who tended to Giffords as she lay bleeding, as well as the parents of Christina Taylor Green, the 9-year-old girl who was killed - were invited to be in the House gallery with first lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday night.
Obama opened his speech by evoking the memory of Tucson and the call for unity he issued there.
"There's a reason the tragedy in Tucson gave us pause," he said. "Amid all the noise and passions and rancor of our public debate, Tucson reminded us that no matter who we are or where we come from, each of us is a part of something greater - something more consequential than party or political preference."