Barack Obama gives State of the Union address

, Feb 12: US President

would focus on initiatives to encourage job growths in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, with excerpts from his speech released ahead of the schedule to show that his administration was willing to target the middle class.

In his speech scheduled to be delivered at 9 pm eastern time, the US President serving his second term would stress that it was the duty of the current generation "to reignite the true engine of America's economic growth - a rising, thriving middle class".

The US President would also lay out "additional proposals that are fully paid for and fully consistent with the budget framework both parties agreed to just 18 months ago."Although the focus of the speech would be mainly on domestic economic policy issues including infrastructure, education and clean energy policies, President Obama was also expected to refer to foreign policy matters.

He would announce the return of 34,000 US troops from Afghanistan within another year, hence hence cutting the size of the US military contingent in the war-ravaged country by half ahead of the planned withdrawal by next year end.

Seehere.

OneIndia News