WASHINGTON, Jan 27: In his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, US President Barack Obama is expected to spell out his national security priorities, in particular those on Afghanistan, officials said on the eve of his annual speech to the Congress.
“We expect the President to address Afghanistan, among other national security priorities,” a White House official told reporters, as final shape were being given to Obama’s annual State of the Union Address.
In his speech, Obama is expected to indicate the broader contours of his new national security strategy, identifying foreign policy priorities for the remainder of his time in office.
Meanwhile the White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, said the 2014 is going to be the “year of action” for the US President and this would be reflected in his speech.
“What we saw last year in 2013 was a Washington that did not deliver for the American people.
And the President sees this as a year of action, to work with Congress where he can and to bypass Congress where necessary to lift folks who want to come up into the middle class,” Carney told the ABC news in an interview.
A top Obama advisor Dan Pfeiffer, yesterday said three words would sum up the President’s message on Tuesday night: opportunity, action, and optimism.
“The core idea is as American as they come: If you work hard and play by the rules, you should have the opportunity to succeed.
Your ability to get ahead should be based on your hard work and ambition and who you want to be, not just the raw circumstance of who you are when you’re born,” he said.
“On Tuesday night, the President will lay out a set of real, concrete, practical proposals to grow the economy, strengthen the middle class, and empower all who hope to join it,” Pfeiffer said.
In this year of action, he said, the President will seek out as many opportunities as possible to work with Congress in a bipartisan way.
“But when American jobs and livelihoods depend on getting something done, he will not wait for Congress,” he said.
In his interview to ABC, Carney said Obama is very disappointed that the Senate failed to heed the will of the vast majority of the American people when it came to expanding background checks.
“On immigration reform, we’re actually optimistic that 2014 will be the year that Congress delivers to the president’s desk a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform bill that meets the principles he laid out and that he can sign into law,” he said. (AGENCIES)
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