President Barack Obama challenged Congress to join him in taking on "our generation's task" to ignite the growth of a "rising, thriving middle class," using the first State of the Union address of his second term to prod Republicans to compromise on the major challenges facing the nation.
"It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country -- the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, what you look like, or who you love," Obama said Tuesday night, sounding familiar themes from his re-election campaign last year.
The president emphasized economic growth and job creation, and insisted that his proposals would not increase the nation's deficit, though the White House offered no price tag on his initiatives.
He also made an emotional plea for Congress to hold votes on controversial proposals for tougher gun laws after the Newtown, Connecticut, shootings in December that killed 20 schoolchildren.
At the same time, Obama called for legislators to work together for the good of the nation, saying Americans "expect us to put the nation's interests before party."
"They do expect us to forge reasonable compromise where we can," he said. "For they know that America moves forward only when we do so together, and that the responsibility of improving this union remains the task of us all."
It was his fourth State of the Union address and seventh speech to a joint sitting of Congress, and analysts considered it a crucial moment for setting the tone for the political dialogue after four years of partisan division and congressional dysfunction.
In the Republican response, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida signaled little acceptance of what Obama proposed, repeating longstanding GOP criticism of what he described as job-killing, growth-snuffing bigger government.
"Presidents in both parties -- from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan -- have known that our free enterprise economy is the source of our middle-class prosperity," said Rubio, a tea party favorite considered the a rising star in the Republican Party. "But President Obama? He believes it's the cause of our problems."
According to Rubio, the president's solution "to virtually every problem we face is for Washington to tax more, borrow more and spend more."
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