President Barack Obama is set to deliver the first State of the Union of his second term on Tuesday, February 12, 2013. The speech will be broadcasted on television but there will also be live stream video online, which you can see right here.
The 2013 State of the Union is set to begin at 9:00 pm ET. President Obama will touch on topics such as the economy and immigration ad it is expected that he'll address the hot topic of gun control.
The White house released some excerpts from Obama ahead of tonight's speech.
"It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country," said the Obama excerpts according to CNN. "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 will spend much of the speech talking about the economy and jobs. He wants to focus on creating good middle-class jobs. According to the excerpts, the goal ahead is "to make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few. That it encourages free enterprise, rewards individual initiative, and opens the doors of opportunity to every child across this great nation of ours."
"Every day," the excerpts say "we should ask ourselves three questions as a nation: How do we attract more jobs to our shores? How do we equip our people with the skills needed to do those jobs? And how do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living?"
Economy is likely to be the main focus of the speech, but Obama will also announce that he's going to pull 34,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan over the next year. This is a big step in Obama's plan to withdraw all troops by the end of 2014.
He's also expected to comment of North Korea's recent nuclear testing and he'll continue to call for less nuclear weapons across the world.
Obama will also discuss the budget and debt.
"Tonight, I'll lay out additional proposals that are fully paid for and fully consistent with the budget framework both parties agreed to just 18 months ago. Let me repeat - nothing I'm proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime. It's not a bigger government we need, but a smarter government that sets priorities and invests in broad-based growth," an excerpt reads.
Watch the live stream video of the 2013 State of the Union below:
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader