by Terry Marsh

Created on: January 31, 2011   Last Updated: February 01, 2011

Fulfilling obligations as President of the United States may be one of the most thankless positions in the world. While attempting to balance out of control fiscal budgets, implement legislation aimed at benefiting the majority of the American public, staff and maintain the armed forces, and ensure economic security in the public sector, the president must also provide a sense of security to the American people that the liberties on which this country was built are still intact. And he must accomplish this while juggling political partisanship and international diplomacy. He then has the responsibility of reporting his progress, shortcomings, and vision for the future in an annual State of the Union speech to a public who may, or may not, be happy with his leadership.

On January 25, 2011, President Barack Obama presented his annual State of the Union Address to the American people. Covered by every major media outlet and broadcast around the world, the speech addressed the primary areas of the president’s focus during the remainder of his time in office, while also highlighting many of his administration’s triumphs. The title, “Winning the Future”, emphasizes the importance that the president places on establishing a direction for the future of the country, and addressing what he feels needs to be done in order for us to get there.

President Obama opened his speech by acknowledging the new Speaker of the House, Republican John Boehner, and Democrat Gabrielle Giffords, who was recently wounded in a shooting attack in Tucson. However, he wasted little time specifying a laundry list of issues which he feels should be targeted for future improvement, including; stabilizing the economy, increasing education and educational opportunities, rebuilding America’s infrastructure, and reducing the nation’s debt. He also placed great emphasis on letting people know that in order for the United States to win strategic advances in each of these areas, that it would be important for members of congress to cross partisan lines to forge agreements that would be in the best interest of all Americans, and not just adhere to specific political agendas. That may have been one of the president’s greatest accomplishments at the close of the 2010 congressional session, in which he was able to move along such significant legislation as health care reform and the repeal of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” laws which affected

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