Obama To Assert Unilateral Agenda
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night will seek to shift the public's souring view of his leadership, a challenge the White House sees as critical to shaping the nation's policy direction over the next three years.</br></br>Mr. Obama will emphasize his intention to use unilateral presidential authority -- bypassing Congress when necessary -- to an extent not seen in his previous State of the Union speeches, White House officials said.</br></br>He also is expected to announce that some of the nation's largest employers, including Xerox Corp., AT&T Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Procter & Gamble Co., have signed a White House pledge agreeing not to discriminate against the long-term unemployed when making hiring decisions, according to a draft of the policy and interviews with several people familiar with the matter.</br></br>Mr. Obama will stress that he intends to take unilateral action on a host of other issues: infrastructure development, job training, climate change and education. Administration officials hinted broadly at the assertive new direction Sunday.</br></br>"We need to show the American people that we can get something done," Dan Pfeiffer, a senior White House adviser, told CNN as part of a round of interviews previewing the speech.