Obama Returns to Familiar Theme in Case for 2nd Term
Jackie Calmes, NY Times
President Obama’s election-year State of the Union address on Tuesday echoed a theme that has run through his career: Government and citizens are responsible together for the common good, even as they celebrate individualism and free markets.
As an obscure Illinois state senator, as a United States senator and as president, Mr. Obama has even used the same phrases to describe a communitarian credo rooted in American tradition, but vying always in his telling with a Darwinian alternative: you’re-on-your-own economics.
And now he is framing the 2012 election as a choice between the two approaches, as voters weigh whether to give him another term or elect a Republican.
“We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by, or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules,” Mr. Obama said as he opened his annual address.
He began with the story of his grandparents — just as he did at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, in the keynote speech that made him famous. After World War II, his grandparents went to college on the G.I. Bill of Rights, bought a house with a federal loan and knew their grandson could go to the best schools, with aid if needed.
full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/us/politics/obama-weaves-well-versed-theme-into-case-for-re-election.html?pagewanted=all
= new reply since forum marked as read
I hadn't read it yet. 
