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Obama sets military as example for country

President Obama bookended a State of the Union address largely focused on the economy with tributes to the U.S. military.

At a time when the military consistently ranks No. 1 and Congress dead last in public opinion polls, Obama urged lawmakers to follow the military’s example of teamwork and selfless sacrifice.

To highlight this point, the president finished his speech Tuesday by talking about the raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in May.

Politics did not matter to the Navy SEAL team responsible for carrying out the mission and it did not matter to the people gathered in the Situation Room in the White House, Obama said.

As Obama spoke, Navy Adm. William McRaven, who oversaw the bin Laden raid, sat with first lady Michelle Obama as a special guest in her viewing box.

“All that mattered that day was the mission,” Obama said.

The message to lawmakers: put political differences aside and work together.

However, many of the initiatives put forward by the president received little applause from Republicans in the audience.

With the election in November, many viewed the speech as an opening argument in the president’s political campaign and an opportunity to highlight the differences between the parties’ platforms.

While much of the speech was devoted to the economy, Obama outlined what he viewed were his national security achievements over the past year, including killing bin Laden, ending the war in Iraq and helping oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

It was on foreign policy that the president received some of the loudest bipartisan applause.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers were quick to stand and support the president’s comments on Syria.

“I have no doubt that the Assad regime will soon discover that the forces of change can’t be reversed, and that human dignity can’t be denied,” Obama said.

Republican members of Congress also joined Democrats to cheer the president’s resolve on Iran.

“Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal,” he said.

However, a peaceful resolution is still possible and far better for everyone, the president added.

The president used this discussion of foreign policy achievements to quickly mention the new defense strategic guidance, which the Pentagon unveiled Jan. 5.

The strategy calls for a shift in geographic focus toward the Asia Pacific region, while maintaining influence in the Middle East.

On the new strategy, Obama only said it ensured the country maintains the “finest military in the world, while saving nearly half a trillion dollars in our budget.”

The president’s speech comes just days before Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is scheduled to give a sneak preview of the Pentagon’s 2013 budget request.

Next year’s budget will provide the first glimpse of how the Pentagon plans to reduce projected spending by $487 billion over the next 10 years to meet the Budget Control Act’s initial spending caps.

It does not take into account the possibility of sequestration, which would initiate an additional $500 billion cut in January 2013 if Congress does not find an alternative way to reduce the country’s deficit.

A large part of the president’s speech focused on reviving American manufacturing and bringing overseas jobs back home, mostly through tax incentives.

It also included a handful of initiatives that could help combat veterans who are returning from war and are in need of work.

The jobless rate for those who have left active duty since 2001 climbed to 12.1 percent in 2011, the fourth consecutive year of increases, according to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

“As they come home, we must serve them as well as they served us,” Obama said.

Obama touted a recent bill that received bipartisan support from Congress to provide tax credits to companies who hire vets.

The president also proposed a Veterans Job Corps “that will help our communities hire veterans as cops and firefighters, so that America is as strong as those who defend her.”

Over 20 members of Congress brought Iraq war veterans as their guests to the speech as part of a bipartisan effort to focus attention on their needs and to honor their service.