WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union speech on
Tuesday night, praised international diplomacy for harsher sanctions on Iran
over its nuclear program than the country has ever before faced.
In an
address of more than an hour, Obama focused on the US economy, education and
deficit, with only passing references to Iraq, Afghanistan and al- Qaida, and no
mention at all of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
RELATED:Obama praises international sanctions on Iran New Al Qaida chief is former US resident He did, though,
highlight the nuclear threats posed by Iran and North Korea.
“Because of
a diplomatic effort to insist that Iran meet its obligations, the Iranian
government now faces tougher sanctions and tighter sanctions than ever before,”
he said. “And on the Korean peninsula, we stand with our ally South Korea, and
insist that North Korea keeps its commitment to abandon nuclear
weapons.”
He declared that America would overcome the threat posed by
al-Qaida despite its efforts to attack the US.
“In Pakistan, al-Qaida’s
leadership is under more pressure than at any point since 2001. Their leaders
and operatives are being removed from the battlefield.
Their safe havens
are shrinking,” Obama said. “And we have sent a message from the Afghan border
to the Arabian Peninsula to all parts of the globe: We will not relent, we will
not waver, and we will defeat you.”
His vow received a standing ovation,
as did his words that as terrorist plots were planned against America, the
country was responding “with the strength of our communities, with respect for
the rule of law, and with the conviction that American Muslims are a part of our
American family.”
Tea Party advocates, especially, found little to cheer
in Obama’s address. In Indiana, college secretary Monica Boyer hosted a small
viewing party for three board members of the Tea Party group, Kosciusko County
Silent No More. She said they all laughed when the president promised more
government transparency, and were unimpressed with the gesture of the Democratic
and Republican members of Congress sitting together to watch the
speech.
“A ploy from the Democrats,” she called the move, saying: “If
this is the first step that the Republicans take to working together, I don’t
care where they sit, but we will be watching their policies very closely. We did
not elect them to compromise. We did not elect them to move to the
center. We elected conservatives...
“So if they just join hands and sing
Kumbaya,” she said, “that will be the last year we will have faith in the
Republican Party.”
Still others said they were waiting for Obama to back
up his “centrist”-sounding proposals with action – namely through cuts in
federal spending.
“I want to see him actually reduce spending, not just
freeze it,” said Kenneth Cobb, a Tea Party organizer from Bemidji,
Minnesota.
Cobb said he’s all for civil, levelheaded dialogue, but not at
the expense of the right to speak out against a federal government he sees as
spending itself into a “slavery to debt.
“You can still be civil without
compromising on principles,” he said.
AP contributed to this report.