Obama appeals for unity

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama last night urged the nation to "win the future" and the global competition as he proposed a five-year spending freeze and new investments to create jobs.

In his second State of the Union address, its atmosphere shaded by the Tucson, Ariz., shootings and its tone set by lawmakers' bipartisan seating, Obama appealed to Democrats and Republicans to work together "to do big things" for the country.

"We will move forward together, or not at all - for the challenges we face are bigger than party, and bigger than politics," Obama said. "At stake is whether new jobs and industries take root in this country, or somewhere else."

Obama aimed for the middle in his midterm address, building on the regained political momentum he won in the lame-duck session after what he called a "shellacking" in last year's election, which shifted control of the House to the GOP.

Last night, he sought to reach across the aisle with GOP-friendly proposals such as medical malpractice reform.

But he also touted issues to his base, asking for immigration reform and vowing to finish pulling troops from Iraq and to start bringing them home from Afghanistan in July.

Obama was rewarded with at-times enthusiastic response. But he also is facing two years of bitter budget battles in a divided government amid a presidential race already under way.

Last night, he sought to reach across the aisle with GOP-friendly proposals such as medical malpractice reform and reducing government regulation.

And he addressed a key Republican concern - government spending and the deficit - saying we have to "confront the fact that our government spends more than it takes in."

Obama proposed a five-year domestic spending freeze that will "require painful cuts" in community action programs and defense spending alike, along with health care cost reductions, Social Security reform, streamlining government and revamping taxes. Yet Obama also prescribed a range of investments.

"We need to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world," he said.

Recalling the investment in science and education after the Soviet Union beat the United States into space with its Sputnik half a century ago, Obama referred to fast-growing China and India and said, "This is our generation's Sputnik moment."

In broad strokes that he said would be filled in by the budget he proposes next month, Obama ticked off his proposals.

Break oil dependency by eliminating oil subsidies and investing in clean energy, with goals of 1 million electric vehicles on the roads by 2015 and 80 percent of electricity generated without oil by 2035.

Expand the Race to the Top school program, hire 100,000 teachers in science and technology in the next decade, and make college tuition tax credits permanent.

Repair roads and bridges, give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail in 25 years, and extend the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of Americans in the next five years.

Afterward, two Republicans offered responses.

"They want a federal government that controls too much, taxes too much, and spends too much in order to do too much," said Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in the official GOP response.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), speaking to tea party activists, blamed Obama for an "unprecedented explosion of government spending and debt."