Bring Overseas Jobs Back Home, Tops Presidents To-Do List

To the subtext of a race for the presidency, President Barack Obama in his 2012 State of the Union address called for a nation where everyone gets a fair shot and plays by the same rules.

The presence of Gabrielle Gifford softened the room for a few minutes in advance of the president’s state of the union address Tuesday night.

The president turned quickly to job creation and the economy asking American business leaders with outsourced interests to ask themselves what can they do to bring jobs back home.

Obama called for moves to discourage outsourcing and encourage insourcing and says he wants to see taxes lowered for companies that manufacture and create jobs in the United States.

On the energy front he says his administration will promote safe, responsible development of natural gas supplies that could mean more than 600,000 jobs, adding that in 2009 the U.S. became the world’s leading producer of natural gas.

He also indicated support of shale gas development.

He presented the  “Buffet Rule” that would have millionaires pay a  minimum 30 percent tax rate. That came as no surprise, nor was his call for an extension of the payroll tax cut for working Americans.

The president will take his message to the road in coming days as he makes a five state tour through states key to his reelection.