Obama's ambition to double exports

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers his first State of the Union speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill as Vice-President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi applaud.

With much of his platform under strain, President Barack Obama's first State of the Union speech this week was a closely watched affair. To the surprise of some, Mr. Obama declared he would be staying the course on his most controversial policies in health care, climate change and deficit spending.

But he did signal a new commitment in one area of great interest to Canada. The President pledged to double his country's merchandise exports over the next five years. “We need to export more of our goods,” he said, promising two million new jobs in this sector. “We have to seek new markets aggressively.”

While Canada is a serious competitor to the United States in many foreign markets, Mr. Obama's vow should be seen as very good news. If he intends to get serious about exports, the President is also going to have to get serious about imports as well. And that means fighting protectionism with rather more effort than we have seen so far

From a statistical point of view, the recent collapse in global trade may make Mr. Obama's challenge somewhat easier. On a January-to-November basis (the most recent figures available), American goods exports fell from $1.2-trillion (U.S.) to $947-billion between 2008 and 2009. A large part of any doubling will simply be catching up to previous levels.

Nonetheless, the President will face substantial challenges in expanding trade. And the biggest obstacle is Congress.

Justice Alito mouths 'not true' when Obama blasts Supreme Court ruling in State of the Union address

President Obama chided the Court's ruling in his State of the Union address -- a highly unusual move.

Members of the Supreme Court got a front row seat to President Obama's State of the Union address, and one justice used the opportunity to mouth off to the President.

"With all due deference to the separation of powers," Obama said, "last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests - including foreign corporations - to spend without limit in our elections"

In response to this criticism of their recent ruling, Justice Samuel Alito shook his head and appeared to mouth "Not true."

As both sides of the chamber rose to their feet, the members of the Court in attendance - Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and John Paul Stevens were absent - remained seated in silence, as is customary.

The Supreme Court tore up laws against corporate and union spending in federal elections in a 5-to-4 ruling. The decision is expected to help a GOP push to win back Congress.

The President's chiding of the Court's ruling is highly unusual.

Vice President Biden defended Obama's comments in an appearance on "Good Morning America" when asked if the remarks were proper.

"The President didn't question the integrity of the court. He questioned the judgment of it," the vice president said. "I think it (the ruling) was dead wrong and we have to correct it."

Justice Alito, a member of the Court's conservative bloc, was appointed by President George W. Bush.

John and Elizabeth Edwards Legally Separated

With John Edwards' electrifying U.S. Senate win in 1998, it was his wife Elizabeth Edwards who captivated the nation. A strong, smart, resilient woman, she became one of her husband's greatest political strengths.

"He was young and good looking and charming [and] his wife did not fit Hollywood's central casting of what a political wife should look like. She was a little bit heavy-set. She was an attorney in her own right. She was somebody who was his intellectual equal, if not intellectual superior. She let people know that," said Democratic political consultant Joe Sinsheimer. "John was the dashing figure and Elizabeth was the anchor and that's the way they sold themselves to the people of North Carolina."

But behind their public persona as the golden couple, during his second run for president, there was another side to Elizabeth Edwards who was secretly dealing with the slow leakage of her husband's affair and her cancer diagnosis.

As a torrent of fresh details from the scandal cascaded into the media today, a source close to Elizabeth Edwards told ABC News that she and John are now legally separated. Under North Carolina law they can't get divorced until at least a year later. John Edwards is no longer living at their home in Chapel Hill, ABC News has learned.

When Elizabeth learned in March 2007 that her breast cancer had returned, it became part of the couple's political calculations in his presidential run, according to Edwards' former aide Andrew Young who has written a tell-all book "The Politician." The book will be released Jan. 30.

Obama speech to focus on economy

The US president's State of the Union address is set to focus on the economy, with the announcement of a spending freeze in certain areas of the US budget, according to the White House.

Barack Obama is set to deliver his biggest set-piece speech for the year in the House of Representatives in Washington DC at 9pm local time (02:00 GMT).

It comes at a time, one year into Obama's presidency, when unemployment in the US is at 10 per cent and a the government deficit has run to about $1.4 trillion.

"In this speech, what he'll discuss more than anything is getting our economy moving again," Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said.

"It's a centrist strategy going forward," Manu Raju of the Politico.com website, told Al Jazeera.

But aides have also signalled that Obama will make clear he has not lowered his sights and is determined to enact planned reforms, including his signature health care initiative, now in limbo in congress.

Ahead of his speech Obama has appeared on local television, saying: "The one thing I'm clear about is that I'd rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president."

There is no guarantee that congress will agree to a spending freeze, an idea that Obama initially rejected when it was proposed by John McCain, his then Republican rival, in the 2008 election campaign.

The proposal has been met with derision by both Democrats and Republicans.

Democrats argue a freeze would hurt the economic recovery, while Republicans dismiss the move as window-dressing after what they call an "unprecedented spending binge" by the Obama White House.

Disputed proposal

That has led to speculation that the president may be moving closer to the middle ground of American politics.

Special report

"It's a centrist strategy going forward," Manu Raju of the Politico.com website, told Al Jazeera.

But aides have also signalled that Obama will make clear he has not lowered his sights and is determined to enact planned reforms, including his signature health care initiative, now in limbo in congress.

Ahead of his speech Obama has appeared on local television, saying: "The one thing I'm clear about is that I'd rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president."

There is no guarantee that congress will agree to a spending freeze, an idea that Obama initially rejected when it was proposed by John McCain, his then Republican rival, in the 2008 election campaign.

The proposal has been met with derision by both Democrats and Republicans.

Democrats argue a freeze would hurt the economic recovery, while Republicans dismiss the move as window-dressing after what they call an "unprecedented spending binge" by the Obama White House.

Reform moves

According to the administration, the proposed freeze would exclude Defence, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security and as well as entitlement programmes such as Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, which make up the biggest and fastest-growing part of the federal budget.

White House budget officials estimate it could amount to savings of $250bn over 10 years.

But that would be less than 3 per cent of the roughly $9 trillion in additional deficits the government is expected to accumulate over that time.

In his speech, Obama is also likely to touch on other initiatives including immigration reform, cap-and-trade global warming legislation, wide-ranging education reform and regulatory rules to halt risky business practices on Wall Street.

Also expected is a promise to improve national security in regard to bio-attacks, tax breaks that could ease the way to college or retirement for Americans and a framework for the US role in rebuilding earthquake-hit Haiti.

Obama to announce aid for middle class

Washington — The Associated Press U.S. President Barack Obama Previewing key elements of his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama is announcing on Monday a series of initiatives aimed at calming some of the economic fears of struggling middle class families.

The proposals to be unveiled by Mr. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House, and which the president will push in his Wednesday night speech, include a doubling of the child care tax credit for families earning under $85,000 (U.S.); an increase in federal funding for child care programs of $1.6-billion; capping student loan payments to 10 per cent of income above “a basic living allowance;” expanding tax credits to match retirement savings; and increasing aid for families taking care of elderly relatives. The plan would also require all employers to provide the option of a workplace-based retirement savings plan.

The proposals are the result of the work of a middle class task force that Biden had headed. A White House official says they are aimed at the “sandwich generation” – Americans that are struggling to care for both their children and their parents. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the speech has not been finalized.

The official said that creating jobs, addressing the deficit, changing Washington and helping middle class families are the main themes of Mr. Obama's first State of the Union address. He'll also discuss his bid to take on the financial industry, energy, education and immigration – all issues the president has said fit into his plan to rebuild the economy.

White House advisers see the speech as a key opportunity for Obama to recalibrate his message to better connect with the public and reset his presidency after stinging setbacks.

Mr. Obama has promised a sharper focus on jobs and the economy as the dust settles from the punishing loss of the late Edward M. Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts. Republican Scott Brown's victory put the seat in the hands of Republicans for the first time in decades and took away Democrats' 60-vote majority in the Senate.

Obama bank plan wins tentative support in Europe

LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - France, Britain and Germany offered support on Friday for President Barack Obama's plan to limit banks' size and trading activities but fell short of pledging to follow suit on the proposal that has stunned world markets.

Obama's dramatic proposals could rewrite the world financial order but experts said they were light on detail and could cloud the global approach fostered by the Group of 20 nations.

Obama made his proposals on Thursday, saying he was ready to fight resistance from Wall Street banks he blamed for helping cause the global financial crisis.

The plan would prevent banks from investing in, owning or sponsoring a hedge fund or private equity fund.

It would set a new limit on banks' size in relation to the overall financial sector and, perhaps most dramatically, could also bar institutions from proprietary trading operations, which are unrelated to serving customers, for their own profit.

Proprietary trading involves firms making bets on markets with their own money and has been the source of much of banks' bumper profits before and after the financial crisis.

French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde welcomed the proposal, saying it was a "very, very good step forward."

"They see that regulation, which was a taboo word that was difficult to use in financial circles in the United States, is vital to contain ... banking excesses," she said.

UK Treasury Minister Paul Myners said Britain had already acted to address problems in its banking industry.

"He's developing a solution to what he sees as the American issues, we've already taken the necessary action in the UK," Myners said in an interview with Reuters Insider TV.

But Britain's opposition Conservatives, tipped by polls to win an election to be held by June, offered more solid support.

"President Obama has created a lot of space for the rest of the world to come up with what I think would be a sensible system of international rules," Conservative finance spokesman George Osborne told BBC Radio.

"I have said consistently that we should look at separating retail banking from activities like large-scale propriety trading and that this was best done internationally."

Doubts remain as to whether Obama's scheme can be enacted unchanged, not least since his party lost a key Senate seat this week, depriving it of a "super majority" in that house.

But it will strike a popular chord.

Banks' return to paying massive bonuses has prompted public and media outrage in the United States and Europe after taxpayer money was used to bail many of them out.

Wall Street sold off on Thursday and the threat that other countries will follow Obama's lead rattled European lenders.

In blow to Obama, Republican wins in Massachusetts

BOSTON (Reuters) - In a stunning blow to President Barack Obama, Republican Scott Brown won a bitter Senate race in Massachusetts on Tuesday and promised to be the deciding vote against his sweeping healthcare overhaul.

Brown's win robbed Democrats of the crucial 60th Senate vote they need to pass the healthcare bill and sent shudders of fear through Democrats facing tough races in November's congressional elections.

What once seemed an easy Democratic victory turned into a desperate scramble in the last few weeks as Brown surged ahead of Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley on voter fears over the economy, the healthcare bill and Obama's agenda.

Brown, a Massachusetts state senator, said he would be the pivotal 41st Republican vote against the healthcare overhaul in the 100-member Senate.

"People don't want this trillion-dollar healthcare plan that is being forced on the American people," Brown told cheering supporters at a Boston hotel who chanted "41" and "Seat him now."

He said voters rejected the closed-door deals that were driving the healthcare debate, and he took satisfaction in proving the experts -- and Democrats -- wrong.

"They thought that they owned this seat. They thought that they couldn't lose," Brown said. "You all set them straight."

Brown's upset with 52 percent of the vote in heavily Democratic Massachusetts raised the specter of large losses for Democrats across the country in November and left the party scrambling to find answers.

"Anyone who has been out on the campaign trail has seen the anger," Coakley, who was criticized for running a weak campaign, told a room of dispirited supporters at a Boston hotel. "I am heartbroken at the result."

Obama, who won almost 62 percent of the state's vote in the 2008 presidential election, made a last-minute appeal in Massachusetts on Sunday to try to ignite enthusiasm for Coakley's campaign to replace the late Senator Edward Kennedy, a Democratic icon and longtime champion of healthcare reform.

In Washington, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president called Brown after the result.

"The president told Senator Brown that he looks forward to working with him on the urgent economic challenges facing Massachusetts families and struggling families across our nation," Gibbs said in a statement.

New York-to-Louisville flight is diverted to Philly due to security concerns

PHILADELPHIA -- A spokesman for US Airways said a flight from New York to Louisville, Ky., has been diverted to Philadelphia International Airport because of security concerns.

Spokesman Jim Olson said US Airways Express Flight 3709 landed in Philadelphia around 9 a.m. after taking off from La Guardia airport. He would not elaborate on the security concern, referring questions to local authorities and the Transportation Security Administration.

A plane is escorted by a law enforcement vehicle to a terminal at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia. A spokesman for US Airways says a flight from New York to Louisville, Ky., has been diverted to Philadelphia International Airport because of security concerns. Spokesman Jim Olson says US Airways Express Flight 3709 landed in Philadelphia around 9 a.m. after taking off from La Guardia airport.

Olson said the plane landed without incident and that the passengers have deplaned. He said they are being put on other flights.

Airport spokesman Mark Pesce said the airport remains open and fully operational.

Calls to Philadelphia police and the FBI were not immediately returned.

51 percent approve of Obama after first year

Washington -- As President Obama marks one year in the White House, an average of the most recent national surveys indicates that just over half of the public approves of how the president is handling his job.

According to a new CNN Poll of Polls, 51 percent of Americans give Obama a thumbs-up when it comes to his performance as president, with 42 percent saying they disapprove of the job he's doing. The survey was released Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of Obama's inauguration.

"Obama's average approval rating stayed above 60 percent until mid-June, and was at 55 percent as late as October," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "But since November, his weekly approval rating, on average, has hovered around the 50 percent mark."

This most recent CNN Poll of Polls is an average of four national surveys conducted in the past week: Fox News (January 12-13), ABC/Washington Post (January 12-15), CBS (January 14-15) and the Gallup Tracking poll (January 15-17). The Poll of Polls does not have a sampling error.

So how does Obama rank compared with his most recent predecessors? George W. Bush's approval rating stood at 83 percent in January 2002, just four months after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Bill Clinton held a 54 percent approval rating in January 1994. George H.W. Bush stood at 80 percent in January 1990, and 49 percent of the public approved of the job Ronald Reagan was doing in January 1982.

"The historical comparison reminds us that a president's first-year approval ratings have little predictive value when forecasting the next election," Holland said. "The elder George Bush had a great first year in office, but lost his re-election bid.

"Ronald Reagan dropped under the 50 percent mark in the fall of his first year and stayed there for nearly two years, yet went on to a landslide victory when he ran again."

US Republicans in upbeat mood after poll victories

What an anniversary gift. President Obama ends his first year in office with Republicans popping the champagne corks - celebrating a victory in Massachusetts they hope will be a harbinger of political gains to come.

A year ago the Democrats were talking about hope and history. President Obama's agenda was ambitious, and his legislative reach impressive.

They dreamed of remaking American government. They had to switch gears to help shore up the American economy.

And as of today, Democrats are licking their wounds - still the majority party in US politics, but stunned nevertheless by that electoral blow in Massachusetts.

Not promising

The next few days will be a critical test of President Obama's strategic abilities - and nerve. Will he be defiant, or conciliatory?

Will he come out fighting for his healthcare initiative in its present form, or back off, accepting that with this vote, he has now lost vital momentum?

He needs to have the answers - and deliver them convincingly - during his State of the Union speech next Wednesday.

What will he say about his healthcare initiative, and the rest of that ambitious agenda? How does he rephrase "hope and change" to the American public now?

Above all, he needs to know he still has strong backing from the US electorate.

He needs opinion poll figures that show the Democrats matching, or outstripping, their Republican rivals. And yet the numbers are not exactly promising.

The independent Pew Research Center reports that while marginally more registered voters intend to back the Democrats in November's Congressional elections, many more Republicans describe themselves as "enthusiastic".