Americans should be heartened by the core message of the first State of the Union address of President Barack Obama's second term: It is time to concentrate on nation-building at home.

That means finally extricating ourselves from America's longest war - the bloody struggle in Afghanistan. The big news from Obama's speech Tuesday night was his announcement that 34,000 of the 66,000 U.S. troops now in Afghanistan will come home by next February, a major milestone toward handing over security to the Afghan government by the end of 2014.

The measured pace for withdrawal is a nod to military commanders, who want a sizable force for the "fighting season" this spring and summer. They don't want to squander the hard-won gains against al-Qaida and the Taliban and don't want to ask too much too soon of the Afghan military. Most of all, they don't want to put U.S. soldiers in unnecessary danger.

The president himself made that point Monday when he presented the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for military valor, to former Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha. "Our troops should not ever be put in a position where they have to defend the indefensible," Obama said.

Romesha - who grew up in Lake City, Calif., and is only the fourth living recipient of the medal for combat in Iraq or Afghanistan - was recognized for his bravery in repelling an assault by a much larger Taliban force on a remote Army outpost in Afghanistan. Eight of his comrades were killed in the 2009 attack. More than 2,000 U.S. troops have already given their lives in the 11-plus years of war. Their sacrifice, and that of their families, can never be forgotten.

Ending the war in Afghanistan will free resources and attention for badly needed renewal at home.

That certainly includes, as Obama outlined, smart investments in education, clean energy, infrastructure and manufacturing to create good jobs and expand the middle class, which has taken a drubbing during the Great Recession.

He said that this generation's task is to "reignite the true engine of America's economic growth - a rising, thriving middle class." He said his proposals would not increase the federal deficit "by a single dime." To further reduce the deficit, he said he's prepared to enact reforms to Medicare that would achieve the same savings - roughly $330 billion by 2020 - as was recommended by the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission.

Strengthening our nation also includes the president's other second-term priorities, most notably efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, fix the broken immigration system and make voting easier for those qualified to vote. The emotional high point of the speech was his call for Congress to vote on sensible measures to reduce gun violence, naming the communities that "deserve a vote."

These are issues important to the nation's future. Congressional Republicans are being irresponsible by dismissing the president's agenda as "notserious," as some did with Twitter hashtags.

As the president said, "The American people don't expect government to solve every problem. They don't expect those of us in this chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation's interests above party."

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