Obama will stick to broad policy proposals in his speech

There will be no specific new proposals in the President's inauguration speech, according to his aides

Published January 21, 2013 2:12PM (EST)

President Obama's inauguration day speech will discuss the broad policies that are likely to become big fights in his second term, but he will also address the "paralyzed" state of Washington politics.

Reuters reports:

David Plouffe, a senior adviser, said Obama would call on both parties to come together to resolve daunting second-term challenges like the budget, the need to raise the nation's borrowing limit and the Democrat's push for tighter gun laws and a legal path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

The president views the inauguration speech and the State of the Union speech to Congress on February 12 as "a package," Plouffe said, and would save details of his second-term agenda for the later speech.

And from the AP:

The speech, slated right after Obama takes an oath to "faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States" Monday on the Capitol's west front, includes no new policy, aides say. Rather, the president plans to use the moment as it traditionally has been in most of the 56 previous inaugurations — to talk about founding American values and their importance to the country's success today.

Robert Gibbs, a senior advisor to Obama, said on CBS "This Morning" that Obama will say "we're going to move beyond what has paralyzed this town for so long," and he will also tell Democrats and Republicans to "lay aside their partisanship."


By Jillian Rayfield

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com.

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2013 Presidential Inauguration Barack Obama Bipartisanship Inauguration Republicans