With President Barack Obama’s fourth State of the Union address delivered Tuesday evening, American ingenuity was praised and marked as the way to economic recovery and superiority.

Obama outlined the nation’s current economic crisis, and the way in which it happened. But before long into his speech, he provided an example of an industry once marked as a lost cause finding its way back.

“Today General Motors is back on top as the world’s No. 1 automaker,” he said. “Ford is investing billions in U.S. plants and factories. And together the entire industry added nearly 160,000 jobs.”

Job creation was a major point of contention — one Obama planned to attack with a multilevel plan, including addressing better funding for education and discouraging outsourcing.

Obama also called for tax reform, laying out a no-nonsense plan.
“If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes,” he said.

Obama mentioned Warren Buffett by name, a strategy that presidential rhetoric expert and University professor John Murphy called a hit at Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

“Clearly, Romney is the poster child for (the) Buffet rule, and Obama’s going to keep talking about it,” Murphy said.

Obama continued to address the economy while putting it into the framework of paying down the national deficit, a major issue of the summer and fall in Congress.

“A return to the American values of fair play and shared responsibly will help us protect our people and our economy,” he said. “But it should also guide us as we look to pay down our debt and invest in our future.”

Education was also addressed as a way to improve America’s future, and Obama proposed that states bar high school students from dropping out of school until reaching the age of 18.

“We also know that when students aren’t allowed to walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma,” he said.

Higher education was also in the president’s sights, and Obama said increasing tuition rates would mean a decrease in federal funding. The University Board of Trustees voted to increase student tuition by 4.8 percent earlier this month.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn praised Obama in a statement issued Tuesday night, mentioning the president’s rhetoric of American responsibility.

“And as the President said, an America built to last calls for responsibility from each of us and fairness for all.”