Lincolnton business man invited to State of the Union

The president will deliver his annual State of the Union address at 9 p.m. and he will talk about all the major issues affecting families today.

One area business owner was invited to attend.

Bruce Cochrane will be in the crowd Tuesday night for the address. His Lincolnton furniture company is a model for creating manufacturing jobs.

“We are employing people again. Good American workers. Very well trained. Very motivated,” he said.

America’s economy is on the rebound; that is the message President Obama plans to send in his speech.

However, Republicans are poised to try and paint and different picture.

“I think he’s failed to lead. I think we’re worse off today than we were. Gas prices are higher. It’s costly and more folks are looking for work today than when he took office,” Patrick McHenry said.

Mick Mulvaney said he wants to hear something different than what the president did last year.

“He talked about simplifying tax code, and that appealed to us as Republicans and then he came out and did the exact opposite. I think it will be good tonight if he came out and was straightforward and said, ‘Here's what I want to do,’” he said.

Democrats stand ready to rally behind Obama and take steps to boost job training programs to help put people back to work.

“One of the problems is that there are jobs open, but the skill set to fill jobs aren’t there,” said Sen. Kay Hagan.

Cochrane said he knows if everyone comes together, the strategy can work.

“We’re all motivated to bring jobs back. It just makes good business sense,” he said.