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Obama’s speech calls on energizing economy

27 January 2010 01:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ziya Agazade â€“ APA. President Barack Obama will try to pivot past rocky times for the nation and himself Wednesday night in his first State of the Union address, offering skeptical public repackaged plans to energize the economy stem a tide of red ink and strengthen anti-terror defenses, APA reports citing â€œAssociated Pressâ€.

One year into office, and a week after pledging to do better at "speaking directly to the American people," Obama faces urgent challenges as he stands before lawmakers gathered in the Capitol and a prime-time television audience at home for the constitutionally mandated ritual of U.S. governing. The country has lost more than 7 million jobs since the recession began two years ago, unemployment is stuck at 10 percent, and the government is grappling with a record $1.4 trillion deficit.

Obama’s presidency is troubled as well. The percentage of Americans giving him a thumbs-up has fallen precipitously, from 74 percent when he took office to 56 percent now. He hasn’t had a breakout legislative or diplomatic victory, and he’s failed to break Washington’s partisanship as promised. Then last week, an upset Republican victory in a Massachusetts Senate race threw Obama’s signature domestic priority, a sweeping health care overhaul, into jeopardy and shined a spotlight on economic angst now being taken out on him.