In his last State of the Union address, President Clinton has laid out an ambitious agenda of reforms to spread the present prosperity, but which should also help Vice-President Al Gore's campaign to succeed him in the White House.
Speaking for a record 89 minutes, the President urged Congress to enact a $350 billion package of tax cuts over 10 years to promote improvements in healthcare and education and benefit middle- and lower-income families.
Mr Gore, who interrupted campaigning in New Hampshire to sit behind the President, was mentioned favourably six times in the speech, which was televised nationwide. Mrs Hillary Clinton, who is campaigning in New York for a Senate seat, was also present in the public gallery and was praised for her work for children and families.
The President told the members of the Senate and House of Representatives: "We are fortunate to be alive at this moment in history. Never before has our nation enjoyed, at once, so much prosperity and social progress, with so little internal crisis or so few external threats."
Mr Clinton made a passing reference to Northern Ireland when he said the US should be proud of its efforts to build peace in various parts of the world: the Middle East, the North, East Timor, Africa, and to defusing crises between India and Pakistan and Greece and Turkey.
He put the main emphasis in the foreign policy section of his speech on improving relations with Russia and on urging Congress to legislate for normal trading relations with China, thus allowing it to join the World Trade Organisation.
He appealed for a consensus that would ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the Senate rejected last year. On defence, the President said he would present a budget which "keeps our military the best-trained and best-equipped in the world, with heightened readiness and 21st-century weapons".
The relaxed atmosphere during the speech contrasted with last year's, which took place while Mr Clinton was being tried by the Senate on impeachment charges. But it was widely noted that none of the nine Supreme Court judges attended although seats were reserved for them. A number were said to be ill or travelling.
Mr Clinton listed the economic achievements of his seven years in office: the fastest economic growth in 30 years, the lowest unemployment rates in 30 years, the lowest poverty rates in 20 years, the lowest black and Hispanic unemployment rates on record and the first back-to-back budget surpluses in 42 years.
But Republicans, who have a majority in both Houses, said there was no chance that Congress would enact the proposed tax package which they said did not go far enough. Republicans favour an across-the-board tax cut benefiting rich as well as poor, while the President's proposals target the less well-off sectors by extending their health insurance and tax credits for education costs.