WASHINGTON, DC -- “When the President stands before the nation to deliver his final State of the Union message, he speaks to an America very different from the one he first addressed seven years ago.  It’s a nation of more, but not better.  Since 2001, more Americans are living in poverty, up 4.9 million.  More are unemployed, up 1.7 million.  More Americans lack health insurance, up 6 million. The national debt has increased from $5.7 trillion to more than $9 trillion.

“Last year the President supported a troop surge in Iraq to suppress the violence, but he’s done little to reduce the surge in crime in America’s urban areas. More than 8,000 citizens lost their lives to handgun violence in 2007. 

“This Administration has ensured that more is less.  More money spent on funding the war in Iraq has meant less money spent on the education of America’s children.  More tax cuts for the wealthy have meant less tax benefits for the poor.  Tax cuts will be more than 100 times larger for millionaires than for middle income families.

“Is America better off as we listen to the President’s final State of the Union address than it was at his first State of the Union address?  The numbers tell the story, you decide.”