Obama Defends Government as Equalizer While Promoting Gay Rights
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President Barack Obama left behind talk of healing partisan divisions to begin his second term with an unapologetic defense of the government’s role in promoting “a never-ending journey” toward equality for all, including the poor, women and gays.
He used his inaugural address to admonish Republicans, who have opposed most of his major initiatives in the last four years, and to declare before negotiations on the nation’s fiscal health that he’ll protect both entitlement programs and the federal spending that he says is an investment in the future.