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# State of the Union 2011: US risks losing its global supremacy, Barack Obama
warns
## The US risks losing its global supremacy and must "win the future by out-
innovating, out-educating and outbuilding the rest of the world," President
Barack Obama told Americans on Tuesday night.
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315
TelegraphPlayer-8282657
[![Alex Spillius][1]][2]
By [Alex Spillius][3], Washington 6:31PM GMT 25 Jan 2011
[Follow Alex Spillius on Twitter][4]
[Comments][5]
The US president used his State of the Union speech to promise to rein in a
growing debt that is deeply alarming to voters.
[Mr Obama][6] said the economy is growing but more needs to be done, calling
for a job-creating "Sputnik moment" fed by new spending in research and
education.
He outlined a plan "to win the future by out-innovating, out-educating and
outbuilding the rest of the world", while "reforming our government so that
it's leaner and smarter for the 21st century".
Mt Obama said: "The most important contest we face today is not between
Democrats and Republicans. It's America's contest with competitors across the
globe for the jobs and industries of our time."
With unemployment stuck at 9.4 per cent and the likes of China, India and
Brazil surging in the global economy, Mr Obama addressed the insecurity about
the future that many Americans feel.
## Related Articles
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26 Jan 2011
* [US Defence Secretary faults Congress for weakening military][8]
27 Jan 2011
* [State of the Union 2011: key challenges][9]
26 Jan 2011
* [State of the Union 2011: factbox][10]
25 Jan 2011
* [State of the Union 2011: guest list includes Christina Taylor Green's
parents][11]
25 Jan 2011
* [State of the Union: as it happened][12]
26 Jan 2011
The national ego has been bruised by the fact that Chinese credit is keeping
the US solvent, and Mr Obama referred directly to China's superiority in the
clean energy and wind turbine market as a way of encouraging Republicans to
support central funding for industrial initiatives.
The State of the Union, which draws a television audience of more than 45
million, comes as Mr Obama begins the second half of his four-year term facing
the awkward reality of sharing power with the Republicans, who now control the
House of Representatives after a landslide victory in November's midterm
elections.
On the eve of the speech Republican leaders made it clear that winning their
support for any increase in government spending would be difficult.
The party on Tuesday presented a symbolic resolution to return spending to
levels before Mr Obama came into office.
Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader, said: "Americans want more jobs and
less spending that will just saddle their children with debt."
Tuesday night's atmosphere in the House chamber was more sober and civil than
in recent years. It is less than three weeks since an assassination attempt in
Tucson, Arizona on Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who is
recovering after being shot in the head during a one-man rampage that left six
dead.
Among those who were invited to sit with Michelle Obama, the first lady, at
the president's speech are be the family of a nine-year-old girl who was
killed, an aide to Ms Giffords who rushed to help her at the shooting and
trauma surgeons who have treated the wounded representative.
In an attempt at unity following an attack on one of their own, dozens of
Democrats and Republicans plan to sit together during the president's speech,
though some have dismissed that idea as superficial.
The focus on tone follows a fractious occasion last year. When Mr Obama
rebuked a Supreme Court decision in his State of the Union speech Justice
Samuel Alito mouthed back from the audience, "not true". He will this year be
at an engagement in Hawaii, though six of the court's nine justices are due to
attend.
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Telegraph
## [Barack Obama][18]
* ### [News »][19]
* ### [World News »][20]
* ### [North America »][21]
* ### [USA »][22]
* ### [Alex Spillius »][2]
In news
[![US President Barack Obama's state visit to Britain: day two in
pictures][23] ][24]
### [Obamas visit Britain: day two][24]
[![US President Barack Obama's state visit to Britain: security and
protests][25] ][26]
### [Obama: security and protests][26]
[![Queen Elizabeth II and US President Barack Obama during a State Banquet in
Buckingham Palace,][27] ][28]
### [Obamas visit Britain: day one][28]
[![][29] ][30]
### [Obama honours 'special relationship' in toast to the Queen][30]
[![Barack Obama UK visit: trip well received in US media: US President Barack
Obama high-fives with British Prime Minister David Cameron as they play table
tennis ][31] ][32]
### [Obama and Cameron team up for ping pong doubles][32]
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