USA Today: "Obama lauds education, technology in State of the Union Address"

By Mimi Hall

WASHINGTON — Issuing a plea for a new era of American innovation, President Obama on Tuesday urged a politically divided Congress to invest in education and technology to help the nation compete in an exploding global marketplace. "At stake is whether new jobs and industries will take root in this country or somewhere else," Obama said in his second State of the Union Address.
He invoked the space race with the Soviets a half-century ago, noting the United States began behind and ultimately triumphed. "This is our generation's Sputnik moment," he said.

The president, who congratulated the new Republican House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, said reinforcing the nation's slow economic recovery will be difficult and insisted the only way to make progress is to bring an end to the partisanship in Washington. "What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we sit together tonight, but whether we can work together tomorrow," he told lawmakers. Dozens of Republicans and Democrats sat side-by-side in a show of comity after this month's shooting in Tucson of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who received an ovation when Obama noted her absence.

>> FULL STORY <<