Obama Calls for Innovation, Cooperation in State of the Union Address

“This is our generation’s Sputnik moment,” the president said.

Just as the U.S. responded with a wave of innovation after the U.S.S.R. launched the world’s first satellite in 1957, Barack Obama said America must respond to the growth of China and India by redoubling their efforts to bolster the U.S. economy. Delivering his second State of the Union address to an estimated 50 million viewers Tuesday night, the president called the U.S. “the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook” and urged Americans to continue the tradition of invention and entrepreneurship. In a sign of conciliation to a House dominated by small-government Republicans, he also outlined plans to freeze domestic spending for the next five years in order to rein in the country’s deficit.