State of the Nation: Obama delivers 'greatest hits' speech

Barack Obama has delivered his annual State of the Nation address - and the speech has been hailed as a "greatest hits" package, designed to cement his reputation in the penultimate year of his presidency.

Obama recapped past achievements, says the BBC's John Sopel, declared an end to the financial crisis in the US – and promised economic policies to benefit all Americans. He outlined plans to increase taxes on the richest people and corporations.

But the Democrat president's tax pledges are unlikely to be realised, now that both houses are controlled by the Republicans, says the BBC. Republican representatives sat "stony-faced" throughout, says The Guardian.

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This is a "rock star" president, says Sopel – and Obama had admitted beforehand that the speech was focused more on values than actual policies. It was "remarkable for its broad appeal for national unity", says The Guardian, an "uncompromising vision".

The biggest cheer came when Obama, listing past achievements, reminded the audience he had increased the number of people who now have medical insurance with the controversial 'Obamacare' policy despised by the right.

But there were new policies – a "laundry list" of them, all "trotted out over the last week", says the paper. Tax measures included closing loopholes on large inheritances, raising capital gains for the largest earners from 23.8 per cent to 28 per cent and introducing new fees for financial firms with assets about $50bn.

Obama also laid out plans to improve statutory sick leave and the minimum wage, help nine million students pay for community college, increase cyber-security, continue with the process of closing the prison at Guantanamo and promote equal pay for men and women.

If the Republicans ensured Obama's reception was lukewarm, there was at least a standing ovation for Alan Gross, recently released after spending five years in a Cuban prison, accused of working as a US agent. Gross was attending as a guest of Michelle Obama.

Concluding his speech, the president said: "I have no more campaigns to run. My only agenda for the next two years is the same as the one I've had since the day I swore an oath on the steps of this Capitol – to do what I believe is best for America."