“After a breakthrough year for America, our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999,” President Obama said less than a minute into his State of the Union address Tuesday.

 

President Obama receives a standing ovation as he prepares to deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

 

His economic victory lap was fueled by cheap gas: “We are as free from the grip of foreign oil as we’ve been in almost 30 years,” he said.

 

Democrats roared.

 

And then Obama pointed to where he wants to steer the economy — toward greater economic equality. He wants to get there by spending more on child care, education and infrastructure. He would pay for that by imposing more taxes on capital gains, inherited assets and big banks.

 

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Liberals cheered Obama’s proposals for higher taxes, particularly for big banks. It would “make the financial system safer and more stable, reducing the risk of another crash and bailouts, which will benefit all Americans,” Dennis Kelleher, CEO of Better Markets, a Wall Street watchdog group.