Obama's State of Union address reveals 'scaled-down ambition'

President promises action on 'bread-and-butter' issues, but 'audacity of hope' has evaporated

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(Image credit: 2014 Getty Images)

PRESIDENT OBAMA promised a "year of action" in his State of the Union address last night, vowing to bypass Congress to tackle economic inequality by revamping America's tax system and raising the minimum wage. Here's what the press made of the president's speech:

Writing in the New York Times, Carl Hulse says the address represents an exercise in "scaled-down ambition". While he urged Republicans to join him in his "year of action", the president also "signalled strongly he would act unilaterally when bipartisan agreement remained out of reach".

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