2010 State of the Union Address

The 2010 State of the Union Address was given by the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, on January 27, 2010, at 9:00 p.m. EST, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives to the 111th United States Congress. It was Obama's first State of the Union Address and his second speech to a joint session of the United States Congress. Presiding over this joint session was the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, accompanied by Joe Biden, the vice president, in his capacity as the president of the Senate.

The theme for President Obama's speech was “Rescue, Rebuild, Restore – a New Foundation for Prosperity”. Among the topics that Obama covered in his speech were proposals for job creation and federal deficit reduction.

Newly inaugurated Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell delivered the Republican response following the speech from the floor of the House of Delegates at the Virginia State Capitol in front of over 300 people.

The following items were mentioned by the President as potential policy changes, legislative initiatives, or goals coming out of the address:

During the address, Obama condemned the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, stating, "Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections." Justice Samuel Alito was seen frowning and mouthing the words "not true" when Obama criticized the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice John Roberts later commented on the subject at the University of Alabama, saying, "The image of having the members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering while the court – according to the requirements of protocol – has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling."

In response to Roberts, Justice Breyer said he would continue to attend the address: "I think it's very, very, very important—very important—for us to show up at that State of the Union, because people today are more and more visual. What [people] see in front of them at the State of the Union is that federal government. And I would like them to see the judges too, because federal judges are also a part of that government."

Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan was chosen as the designated survivor and did not attend the address, in order to keep a presidential line of succession should a catastrophic event have wiped out the administration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also out of the country at the time of the address for a conference in London regarding the country of Yemen and the upsurge in terrorist activity in that country.