Republicans Want New Tone From Obama in SOTU

WASHINGTON — Senior Republican lawmakers want President Barack Obama to strike a more hawkish tone on global matters and a more conciliatory tone on domestic ones in his State of the Union speech Tuesday evening.

Many Republican lawmakers and analysts want Obama to use the foreign policy and national defense portion of his annual address to Congress to strike a more muscular tone.

Where Obama sees ongoing talks with Iran and essentially the end of the Afghanistan war as accomplishments, GOP lawmakers see holes in his approach and track record. Republicans want, but don't expect, a new commander-in-chief in Obama on Tuesday evening.

"Well, first of all, I would recognize the threat," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman (SASC) John McCain, R-Ariz., said on Tuesday. "The president keeps talking about the end of war in his last — I believe it was his last State of the Union speech — we're ending the war, [Osama] bin Laden is dead and we've eliminated core al-Qaida. I mean that — that's all ridiculous.

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