WASHINGTON -- Calling for unity from a newly divided government, President Barack Obama on Tuesday night asked Democratic and Republican lawmakers to rally behind his vision of economic revival for an anxious nation, declaring in his State of the Union address: "We will move forward together or not at all."
With a television audience in the millions watching, Obama addressed a Congress sobered by the assassination attempt against one if its own, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Her seat was left empty, and many lawmakers of competing parties sat together in a show of civility. Yet differences were still evident, as when Democrats stood to applaud Obama's comments on his health care law, while Republicans sat mute next to them.
In one of his best opportunities of the year to connect with the country, Obama focused mostly on the economy, the top issue for a nation still reeling from a monster recession -- and the one that will shape his own political fortunes in the 2012 election.
But his main proposals were somewhat contradictory. Obama called for a burst of spending on education, research, technology and transportation to make the nation more competitive, at the same time that he pledged to cut the deficit and reduce wasteful spending.
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