Attendees of the State of the Union Address
Alicia Boler-Davis, a manager at a General Motors assembly plant in Detroit, Mr. Obama used her presence to underscore the success of the 2009 auto bailouts. GM recaptured the top spot as the world’s biggest car company in 2011 and the U.S. auto industry has added 160,000 jobs since the bailouts “We bet on American workers. We bet on American ingenuity. And tonight, the American auto industry is back.”
Sgt Ashleigh Berg of the U.S. Army served two tours of duty in Iraq, while her husband is currently deployed in Afghanistan. Mr. Obama began his speech drawing attention to his military successes. “For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country.”
Debbie Bosanek has been Warren Buffett’s secretary for two decades. The Omaha billionaire singled her out when he lamented that he paid a lower effective tax rate than his office employees. In his speech, Mr. Obama unveiled his proposal for a so-called Buffett Rule requiring the millionaires to pay at least 30 per cent of their income in taxes. “You can call it class warfare all you want…Most Americans would call that common sense.”
Hiroyuki Fujita, president and CEO of Quality Electrodynamics, Cleveland.
Juan Jose Redin, A lawyer from California, Mr. Redin came to the United States illegally with his mother as a child but is now a citizen. In his speech, Mr. Obama reiterated his call for federal legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for the illegal immigrants in college or the military “Let’s at least agree to stop expelling responsible young people who want to staff our labs, start new businesses, defend this country.”
An astronaut and the husband of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Captain Mark Kelly commanded the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour on its final mission last May, only four months after his wife’s tragic shooting at a outdoor town hall event in Tucson, AZ. Ms. Giffords resigned from Congress on Wednesday to focus on her recovery, but not before attending one last State of the Union address and snagging a bear hug from the President.
Eric Schneiderman, Attorney-general of New York
laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs.
A single mother from North Carolina, Ms. Bray was laid off from her mechanic’s job a year ago. She then enrolled at a local community college to train for a position at a new gas turbine plant. The plant’s owner designed the course taught at the publicly-funded college. Mr. Obama used Ms. Bray’s example to make a pitch for more job training funds “to turn our unemployment system into a reemployment system.”
Michelle Obama
First lady Michelle Obama and guests applaud during President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. Front row, from left are, Jackie Bray, Obama, retired Capt. Mark Kelly, Jill Biden, Sgt. Ashleigh Berg, Hiroyuki Fujita, Richard Cordray, and Sara Ferguson. Second row, from left are, Eric Schneiderman, Juan Jose Redin, Debbie Bosanek, Laurene Powell Jobs, Alicia Boler-Davis, and Col. Ginger Wallace. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)The Associated Press