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In his more than an hour-long, first State of the Union address yesterday, President Barack Obama outlined his agenda for the future by contextualizing his first year in office. Cognizant of declining approval numbers just one year after taking office by overwhelming defeating his Republican opponent in the presidential election, Obama stated, “I campaigned on the promise of change – change we can believe in, the slogan went. And right now, I know there are many Americans who aren’t sure if they still believe we can change – or at least, that I can deliver.” A major point the President went on to address in his speech was the legislative struggle over health insurance reform. Obama acknowledged his own mistakes in presenting the issue to the public but reiterated the goals sought for reform such as the end of denying care on the basis of a pre-existing condition. On the economy, the President claimed to have hated the bank bailout as much as anyone else comparing it to a root canal while claiming it had been necessary to stave off a depression. He then followed that with a call to create jobs and invest in clean energy as a means to achieve employment gains. In addressing the deficit, the President drew lukewarm applause and stunted reactions from members of his own party when he spoke of a spending freeze that would only leave few aspects of government spending, like the military budget, unscathed while placing everything else on the potential chopping block. President Obama then rounded out the rest of his first State of the Union address by highlighting numerous other issues such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, education, immigration, the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the military, and the recent Supreme Court decision on corporations and election financing.

GUESTS: Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare, Dominique Apollon, Research Director at the Applied Research Center. He is a frequent commentator on race and politics in the news