Obama, Republicans spar on jobs before

President Barack Obama yesterday faces a US public hungry for jobs, and Republicans eager to oust him, when he delivers his yearly "State of the Union" speech in a tense new era of power-sharing.
Obama steps up at 9:00pm (0200 GMT Wednesday) to address a joint session of the US Congress and a television audience in the tens of millions in his highest profile shot at defining his reinvigorated, retooled presidency.
Ahead of the speech, Republicans warned they would reject his calls for increased spending on education, research and infrastructure and redoubled their calls for a painful belt-tightening in Washington.