Washington, Feb. 10 (ANI): President Barack Obama will focus his State of the Union address on boosting job creation and economic growth.
America is reeling under high unemployment, underscoring the degree to which the economy could threaten his ability to pursue second-term priorities such as gun control, immigration policy and climate change.
Obama also may use the prime-time address before a joint session of Congress to announce the next steps for concluding the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, the New York Post reports.
The State of the Union by Obama marks his second high-profile speech to the nation in about three weeks, after his inaugural address January 21 that opened his second term.
According to the report, Obama previewed the address during a meeting on Thursday with House Democrats and said he would speak 'about making sure that we're focused on job creation here in the United States of America'.
He said that he would try to accomplish that by calling for improvements in education, boosting clean energy production, and reducing the deficit in ways that don't burden the middle class, the poor or the elderly, the report said.
According to the report, the president said he would address taxes and looming across-the-board budget cuts, known as the sequester, in the speech.
Obama is expected to use his address to press lawmakers to back his immigration overhaul, which includes a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants, and his gun control proposals, including universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons, it added. (ANI)
