When he stands before a joint session of Congress

When he stands before a joint session burberry outlet of Congress at 9 p.m. EST (0200 GMT on Wednesday), Obama is expected to push tax breaks for bringing manufacturing jobs home from overseas, ideas to help the troubled home-mortgage market and incentives for alternative energy development, people familiar with the speech say.

He is also likely to call again for higher taxes on the wealthy - despite consistent Republican opposition - and speak of further pressure on China over its currency and trade practices.

While these initiatives do not offer a quick fix for high unemployment that threatens Obama's re-election prospects, his speech will be a chance to turn up the heat on an unpopular Congress and take control of the campaign narrative.

It will also be a high-profile platform for Obama to draw contrasts with his Republican challengers, casting himself as champion of the middle class while painting them as the party beholden to the rich.

"We can go in two directions," Obama said in a video preview of his third State of the Union speech. "One is towards less opportunity and less fairness. Or we can fight for where I think we need to go: building an economy that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few cheap moncler jackets."

The White House hopes that argument will be buttressed even before Obama speaks. Republican Mitt Romney, one of the wealthiest men to ever run for the White House, released tax records demanded by his party rivals that indicated he will pay $6.2 million in taxes on a total of $42.5 million in income over the years 2010 and 2011.

Republicans accuse Obama of being an old-fashioned tax-and-spend liberal whose policies have hurt the U.S. economy and charge that he is playing the politics of envy whereas what Americans really care about is jobs.

Polls show that most Americans disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy, and his approval numbers have languished below 50 percent. But surveys show Congress far less popular, with many blaming Republicans more for the gridlock in Washington gucci outlet.

TENS OF MILLIONS WATCHING

When Obama takes the podium in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, he will be speaking to his biggest television audience until he addresses the Democratic convention in September. Nearly 43 million people watched his 2011 address.

Though he has built his re-election effort around a strategy of blaming Republicans for obstructing economic recovery, he faces the challenge of striking a balance in the speech between partisan rhetoric and calls for cooperation across party lines.

If he goes too hard, he risks alienating independent voters.

Still, Obama is expected to strike a sharper tone than in last year's State of the Union when politicians kept hostilities under wraps in the aftermath of an assassination attempt on Arizona lawmaker Gabrielle Giffords.

But the atmosphere in Washington is more strained now after a summer of congressional battles and with the volatile Republican presidential race moving into high gear.

Even though Obama's legislative agenda is largely stalled and his go-it-alone options are limited, he is determined to show voters he has not given up moncler jackets.

Obama is expected to push incentives to encourage lenders to refinance underwater mortgages, which would ease a crucial obstacle to a recovery in housing and the broader economy. But his advisers have been at odds over how far to go on this.