A senior White House advisor says expect much of President Obama’s State of the Union Address to be about investing in future innovation, energy, infrastructure and education. David Axelrod also says Obama is expected to lay out “aggressive goals” in cutting government spending, but not at the expense of long term investment.
Axelrod says America no longer has the best educated kids, “It’s very clear that the countries that out-education us will out-compete us in the future. We can’t allow that.”
The President has been criticized for heavy spending including the massive federal stimulus plan. Axelrod says the administration’s fiscal policy has been flexible due to the needs of the country.
“In the first couple of years we had to stave off the most severe recession since the Great Depression and that required some emergency spending.”
The GOP’s response will be presented by House Republican Paul Ryan of Janesville.
