Nitpicking Obama's speech

President Obama's speech to the U.S. Congress last Wednesday earned him a few positive reviews in the mainstream media.

The U.K. The Guardian thought that; He received widespread plaudits for a speech in which he discarded the soaring rhetoric of the campaign trail and adopted a more even pace, setting out details of how he would help the country out of recession, possibly as early as next year.

Certainly Obama appears to have had a small bounce in his job approval ratings recently (61 per cent on 24 February) after a steady drop since his inauguration and, I expect that lines like; "Tonight, I want every American to know this: we will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," will go down well across America and keep his rating steady.

However, there is always someone to prick that political bubble and, as always FactCheck gives this speech the once over with sometimes amusing results:

President Obama's first speech to a joint session of Congress was stuffed with signals about the new direction his budget will take and meant-to-be reassuring words about the economy. But it was also peppered with exaggerations and factual misstatements.

• He said "we import more oil today than ever before." That's untrue. Imports peaked in 2005 and are substantially lower today.
  
• He claimed his mortgage aid plan would help "responsible" buyers but not those who borrowed beyond their means. But even prominent defenders of the program including Fed Chairman Bernanke and FDIC chief Bair concede foolish borrowers will be aided, too.
  
• He said the high cost of health care "causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds." That's at least double the true figure.
  
• He flubbed two facts about American history. The U.S. did not invent the automobile, and the transcontinental railroad was not completed until years after the Civil War, not during it.
  
• He claimed that his stimulus plan "prevented the layoffs" of 57 police officers in Minneapolis. In fact, it's far more complicated than that, and other factors are also helping to save police jobs.

The president also repeated some strained claims we've critiqued before.

Full FactCheck analysis here.