“First, I would encourage Speaker Boehner to hear the speech before he renders his colorful judgment on it,” Pfeiffer said in an interview on Fox’s “America’s Newsroom.” He added, “And the question for Speaker Boehner and all of the Republicans in the chamber tonight is, are they going to be willing to put country before party and work with the president to get some things done?”
In a video distributed to supporters over the weekend, Obama laid out the themes of his State of the Union speech, saying he would call for a “return to American values” where everyone receives a “fair shot” and is expected to “play by the rules,” a veiled shot at the Wall Street excesses that contributed to the financial crisis.
He reiterated previous calls for the manufacturing of more products “stamped with Made in America,” and said he wants to “get people the training they need so they’re ready to take the jobs of today and tomorrow.”
Obama also is expected to renew his calls for passage of provisions in his $447 billion American Jobs Act, most of which was blocked by Congress. Among those provisions is the extension, through the end of this year, of a payroll tax cut due to expire next month. However, Boehner has suggested that House Republicans might link approval of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, which the administration rejected last week, to the payroll tax plan.
In an election year fraught with hyper-partisan politics, Bosanek will not be the only guest in Michelle Obama’s box Tuesday night whose presence is heavy with symbolism.
The White House has invited former astronaut Mark Kelly to attend the speech, which will also be the final appearance in the chamber for Kelly’s wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who is retiring to focus on her recovery from the gunshot wound she suffered a year ago.
Obama delivered a stirring speech in Tucson after the shooting, stating: “At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized — at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we do — it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we’re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds.”
As the 2012 campaign heats up, and the president prepares to address the nation again, those words seem as unrealistic as ever.
Staff writer Felicia Sonmez contributed to this report.
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