Obama Asks Fair Shot for All

WASHINGTON - President Obama pledged Tuesday night to use government power to balance the scale between America's rich and the rest of the public, seeking to present an election-year choice between his continued leadership toward an economy "built to last" and a Republican argument that the country would benefit from less federal intervention.

Restoring a fair shot for all, Obama said, is "the defining issue of our time."

In his final State of the Union address before facing U.S. voters, Obama showcased the extent to which he will try to contrast his core economic principles with those of his Republican rivals at a time of deep economic uncertainty.

At the start, however, the House chamber was united in emotion. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D., Ariz.), who was wounded in a Tucson shooting a year ago, returned for Obama's speech before her resignation from the House to concentrate on her recovery.

Ordinary Americans, the president said, have the right to expect, if not a helping hand from their leaders, then at least a field in which everyone plays by the same set of rules.

"You can call this class warfare all you want," Obama said. "Most Americans would call that common sense." He characterized the looming choice as one between a nation where "a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by" or his own vision - "where everyone gets a fair shot."

In returning to his 2008 campaign motif of these being "not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values," and presenting a long list of domestic economic proposals, Obama's address was meant to show a president still interested in governing and a leader putting the interests of the U.S. middle class at the top of his agenda.

Many of his proposals centered on changes to the tax code, including limiting deductions for companies that move jobs overseas, rewarding companies that return jobs to the United States, and raising taxes on the wealthy.

Taking aim at financial institutions that engaged in risky lending practices that many believe tipped the country into financial crisis, Obama said he was asking Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to create a special unit of federal prosecutors and state attorneys general to expand investigations into abusive lending. The new unit, he said, "will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans."