Barack Obama will attempt to reassure a sceptical American public, galvanise faltering Democrats and banish Republican scaremongering in his first state of the union address later today.

President Obama faced a rough end to his first year in office this month when the Democrats lost control of the Massachusetts Senate seat the late Ted Kennedy had held for almost half a century.

That loss threatened the passage of his healthcare reform bill, delays to which in turn threaten his agenda of tackling unemployment, an economy in the doldrums and a spiralling deficit.

Despite a near-trillion dollar economic stimulus last year, unemployment in the US is refusing to recede, contributing to an anticipated deficit this year of $1.35 trillion.

The White House has already indicated that in next week's 2011 budget announcement the president will announce a three-year freeze on domestic spending, excluding military and homeland security.

Before Congress tonight and an expected television audience of 50 million President Obama is expected to attempt to reconnect with voters whose discontent with the then administration in 2008 propelled him to office.

"We're going to talk about how we can first of all, focus on job creation and growth," he told ABC News ahead of the address.

"There are going to be a set of proposals that we put forward that help to stabilise the situation and deal with the growing insecurity and anxiety of people who, even if they haven't lost their job, are still feeling squeezed by their incomes shrinking and their costs going up."

President Obama's state of the union address begins at 21:00 Washington time (02:00 GMT) tonight
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