Revitalised president tells US to ‘reinvent itself’

A REVITALISED President Barack Obama bluntly told America to reinvent itself and unite to survive in a fast-changing global economy powered by rising giants like India and China.

Obama’s confident State of the Union address mixed straight talk with a patriotic call to action as he rode a tide of improbable political momentum less than three months after a Republican mid-term election rout.

The president spoke to a television audience of millions from the House of Representatives, seeking to unleash a torrent of innovation to transform the economy after the most brutal meltdown in generations.