In the first weekly YouTube address since the passage of health care reform in the Senate President Obama didn’t address the issue, taking time instead to offer season’s greetings to U.S. troops stationed overseas.
First Lady Michelle Obama joined him in the video for the first time and they talked about ways Americans can give back through national service.
“To all our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen–I have no greater honor than serving as your Commander in Chief,” Obama said.
The White House also announced that Obama phoned 10 service members in Iraq and Afghanistan – two from each of the five military branches.
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) took the same tack in the GOP’s weekly address, but he found some time for partisanship along with the good wishes for America’s fighting men and women.
“[L]et’s resolve in the new year to end misguided efforts to create new laws that will cost even more jobs, whether it’s the “cap and trade” national energy tax, the government takeover of health care, “card check,” or even more tax increases,” Hunter said after expressing his “hope we all take time to offer thanks and prayers to the men and women of our Armed Forces.”
Watch both addresses after the jump.
The Obamas’ joint address to the troops:
Hunter’s GOP response:
