Barack Obama to lay out blueprint for ‘fairer America’ in State of the Union speech

After a year of bitter divisions between Republicans and Democrats over how
best to resuscitate the US economy while trimming a ballooning national
debt, Mr Obama was again expected to call for America’s wealthiest to pay
higher taxes.

To that end, Mr Obama was set to urge Congress to adopt the “Buffett Rule”
named after the billionaire investor Warren Buffett who wrote last August
arguing it was unfair that the super-rich paid tax at about half the rate of
ordinary middle-income earners.

Adding to the political theatre, White House aides said that Mr Buffett’s
secretary Debbie Bosanek would be among the guests of the First Lady
Michelle Obama in anticipation of a reprise of Mr Obama’s campaign refrain
that “Warren Buffett’s secretary shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than
Warren Buffett. There’s no justification for it.”

In a trailer for the speech released last weekend, Mr Obama promised an “economy
where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded – and an America
where everybody gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and
everybody plays by the same set of rules”.

The emphasis on the economy sets the scene for a US election that, above all,
will be fought on economic issues, with unemployment still running at 8.5
per cent and the nation’s $15 trillion national debt continuing to rise.

“No, we will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad debt, and
phony financial profits,” the excerpts continued, “Tonight, I want to speak
about how we move forward, and lay out a blueprint for an economy that’s
built to last – an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy,
skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values.”

Mr Romney, the long-term national front-runner for the Republican nomination
to face Mr Obama, promised to lead America down a very different road if he
was elected in November.

“This election is a choice between two very different destinies,” he
said in a major speech delivered on the primary campaign trail in Tampa,
Florida.

“This President puts his faith in government. We put our faith in the
American people. Ours is the party of free enterprise, free markets, and
consumer choice. He leads the party of big government. He believes in
ever-expanding entitlement. He’s wrong. We’re right.”

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