At Obama’s midpoint, an altered State of the Union

WASHINGTON — Nearly two years ago on a cold February day, President Barack Obama stood for the first time before a joint session of Congress and spoke of a national day of reckoning.

It was time not just to stabilize the shaken economy, he declared, but to reach for lasting prosperity.

Photo by AP

In this Jan. 27, 2010, file photo President Barack Obama, flanked
by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, left, and Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner leaves the U.S. Capitol after delivering his
State of the Union address.

His goals were expansive: overhauling health care, cutting the deficit, improving schools, finding a way out of Iraq and a way ahead in Afghanistan. Most of all, creating jobs. Jobs by the millions. Continue ►