Jobs to again top Obama's State of the Union speech
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In his annual State of the Union address tomorrow, US President Barack Obama will urge the two main political parties to act together to create more jobs, while trimming the massive federal deficit.
"My No. 1 focus is going to be making sure that we are competitive, that we are creating jobs - not just now but well into the future. That is going to be the main topic of the State of the Union," Obama said in comments sent by the White House to Organizing for America - a grassroots organization that supports Obama.
Ahead of the 2012 presidential election, the main topics of Obama's speech tomorrow before a joint session of the US Congress seem very much in line with those from his first address.
Facing a domestic unemployment rate of 9.4 percent, though slightly decreased from the 9.7 percent seen a year ago, according to statistics provided by the US Department of Labor, creating more jobs is expected to once again dominate his speech.
Liu Ge, a Chinese political commentator, noted that Obama failed in his prediction last year to get the unemployment rate to 8 percent.
"Obama has put forward more than $800 billion in stimulus spending to boost jobs, but the statistics show it lacked effectiveness," Liu said.
However, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Obama's approval rating has risen to 53 percent, which represents his highest rating in the survey since July 2009.
Obama's current position on taxes contrasts his earlier stance of opposing the renewal of tax reductions for the wealthiest Americans, while supporting continued cuts for middle-class taxpayers.
"To win more support, Obama is shifting to the center," Chen Baoshen, an American economic expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times, adding that the president is moving to improve ties with big business.
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