REUTERS

US President Barack Obama on Friday said never forget, never again, as he remembered six million Jews and others killed by the Nazis. REUTERS/Saul Loeb/Pool

President Barack Obama used his State of the Union speech to demand the restoration of economic fairness in the United States and hailed the accomplishments of his administration in the face of searing political divisions, setting the tone for a tough battle for a second White House term.

Speaking Tuesday night to a joint session of Congress, a legislative body that is seething with partisan anger, Obama retook center stage in one of America's grandest political traditions. He brushed aside the Republican message that he was leading the country to European-style socialism and challenged a deadlocked Congress to take action on a number of issues that have languished in the legislative gridlock that has seized the U.S. capital.

His annual speech called for higher taxes on millionaires and a flurry of aid for the middle class. Restoring a fair shot for all is “the defining issue of our time,” he said.

“We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules,” he said.

National polls show a clear majority of Americans agree, but Republicans, determined to deny Obama a second term in November and in the grip of a tea party faction that insists on lower taxes and smaller government, have blocked the president at every turn since they regained control of the House of Representatives in 2010.

Obama also reminded the national television audience that he had moved boldly overseas, ordering the daring raid that killed al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden in his Pakistan hideout.

As if to underline that message, U.S. Special Forces troops flew into Somalia on a nighttime helicopter raid early Wednesday, freed an American and a Danish hostage and killed nine pirates in a mission that Obama said he personally authorized.

The Danish Refugee Council confirmed that the two aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, were freed and “are on their way to be reunited with their families.”

Republicans responded to Obama with thorough criticism.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who once considered a White House bid, gave the party's official response and denounced the speech as “pro-poverty” and Obama's tactics as divisive.

“No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others,” Daniels said.

Obama, realizing he faces a brutal fight for re-election, sought to shift the blame for the slow U.S. economic recovery to congressional deadlock and appealed again for lawmakers to send him legislation on immigration, tax credits for clean energy and elimination of red tape for Americans refinancing their home mortgages.

The message was unlikely to move the Republican opposition in an election year, but Obama knows that polls show the independent voters who lifted him to the presidency crave bipartisanship.

“I intend to fight obstruction with action,” Obama told the packed House of Representatives chamber and tens of millions of Americans watching on television. Republican lawmakers greeted his words with stony silence as he pleaded for an active government that ensures economic fairness. The opposition demands that the government back off and let the free market rule.

Obama called for higher taxes on millionaires of at least 30 percent.

Even before Obama spoke, the two top contenders for the Republican presidential nomination offered criticism. Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, questioned whether Obama would “show a willingness to put aside the extreme ideology of the far left.” Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, said, “Tonight will mark another chapter in the misguided policies of the last three years - and the failed leadership of one man.”

Obama's timing could not have been better for a message about income inequality. Earlier Tuesday, Romney released his federal tax returns under political pressure, revealing that he earned nearly $22 million in 2010 and paid an effective tax rate of about 14 percent, largely because his wealth came from investments. That is a lower rate than many Americans pay on their wage earnings.

“Now you can call this class warfare all you want,” Obama said. “But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.”

The speech did not mention Romney.

On foreign affairs, Obama talked about extending new ties and influence toward Asia, while claiming that old alliances in Europe and elsewhere are stronger than ever.

He said that while all options are on the table to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon - an implied threat to use military force if necessary - “a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible.”

Obama leaves Washington on Wednesday for a three-day tour of five states crucial to his re-election bid. - Sapa-AP