Obama Proposes New Global Push

President Obama stressed global competitiveness in his State of the Union Address Tuesday night, proposing plans for new investments in education, high-speed rails, clean-energy technology, and faster Internet access. He also proposed rewriting the tax law to lower the corporate-tax rate, which he wants to pay for by eliminating loopholes. At the same time, he vowed to veto any bill containing earmarks and proposed a freeze on non-security discretionary spending that he said would save $400 billion over 10 years—measures that are unlikely to satisfy Republicans, who want deeper cuts in spending. Still, the reception of Tuesday’s speech was mostly civil, with Democrats and Republicans mixing in the audience as a sign of unity after the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, and President Obama citing John Boehner’s life story as an example of “a country where anything is possible.’