Wyoming Democratic Party Chair Applauds President Obama's First State of the Union Address

Says President Obama's Plans for Restoring the Middle Class, Creating Jobs and Turning the Country Around is Right Prescription for What Ails U.S. Economy

Casper - Wyoming Democratic Party Chair Leslie Petersen issued the following statement regarding President Obama's State of the Union Address:

"Americans were looking for the President to lay out a vision to restore the middle class, get the economy back on track, create jobs and end the partisanship that has come to dominate Washington - and the President has succeeded on each count. The President offered common sense solutions that will get middle-class Wyomingites back to work.

"And while we still have a long road ahead of us, we have made significant progress in the last year. Under President Obama's leadership, we passed the Lilly Ledbetter Act, guaranteeing women equal pay for equal work. Under the President's leadership we have expanded health care to an additional four million children under the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). We confirmed as the first Latina Justice in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court a woman with more federal judicial experience than any Supreme Court Justice in 100 years. We passed the Recovery Act which, here in Wyoming has averted tuition increases at the University of Wyoming, funded increased Medicaid enrollments, buffered deeper cuts into state agencies and kept Wyomingites at work.  And we have come farther than ever before towards passing meaningful health insurance reform - a fight that is not yet complete.

“The President offered a hand of bipartisanship to Congressional Republicans who, we hope after a year of obstruction and hyper-partisanship, will accept it and work with us to turn this country around. With a refreshing amount of candor, President Obama talked about the challenges we face and the frustrations Americans feel about the pace of change they've seen so far.  The President also reminded Americans that upon taking office just over one year ago, he inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression and one that was losing between 700,000 and 800,000 jobs a month, two wars, and a highly partisan opposition in Washington.

"The President's address tonight was a powerful reminder of why we worked so hard to elect him to lead our party and our nation through these challenging times. I'm confident that under the President's leadership we will weather this economic storm and as a result we will be stronger.