President Obama sprinkled Tuesday's State of the Union Address with light jokes and centered his remarks on a renewed call for bipartisanship. But despite the niceties, the speech left no doubt of the big ideological battles that lie ahead in the new Congress.

The theme of Obama's speech was economic competitiveness and "winning the future" in an increasingly complex global economic landscape featuring ascendant countries like China and India. Obama challenged the U.S. to "out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world," even as he warned that other nations were making increasingly daunting investments to propel their own growth.

"So yes, the world has changed -- the competition for jobs is real," Obama said. "But this shouldn't discourage us. It should challenge us. Remember: for all the hits we've taken these last few years, for all the naysayers predicting our decline, America still has the largest, most prosperous economy in the world."

Seeking to summon the can-do spirit of an earlier era, Obama said that this generation was facing its own "Sputnik moment" and alluded to new spending proposals in infrastructure and education, which have already elicited cries from the newly empowered GOP.

Noting that he would send his budget to Congress in a few weeks, Obama said, "We'll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology -- an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people."

Despite his call for increased investment in critical areas, Obama said that with the worst of the recession over, it was time to begin to tackle the deficit in earnest. He proposed a five-year freeze in annual domestic spending, which he said would reduce the government's shortfall by over $400 billion over the next decade.

But Obama's speech offered few specifics on where he would cut spending, and the Republican National Committee was quick to tout an Associated Press analysis, which noted that the president "offered far more examples of where he would spend than where he would cut."

This year's State Of The Union Address featured noticeably different atmospherics from past presidential speeches, as members of Congress decided to forego the traditionally partisan seating chart, in a symbolic gesture that developed after the tragic shooting in Tucson that left six dead and 14 injured, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).

Obama was more measured in his tone than in some of his best remembered speeches, and the House chamber appeared more subdued than in past years, as the typically frequent standing ovations on one side of the aisle or other were replaced by slightly more sporadic and less predictable applause lines.

But Obama appeared to acknowledge that the bipartisan "date night" that had Washington abuzz on Tuesday would only have legs if members of Congress made a lasting effort to downplay the politics of division for the sake of the country.

"Amid all the noise and passions and rancor of our public debate, Tucson reminded us that no matter who we are or where we come from, each of us is a part of something greater -- something more consequential than party or political preference," Obama said. "What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together tonight, but whether we can work together tomorrow."

Obama noted lightheartedly that he'd "heard rumors" that some members of Congress had concerns about the health care law and vowed to listen to Republican suggestions for improving it, starting with correcting a "flaw in the legislation that places an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses."

But the president pushed back against GOP efforts to repeal the entire law, using the personal stories of a brain cancer patient from Texas and a small businessman in Oregon to make his case that reform had made significant strides over the previous system.

Obama disappointed some of his progressive allies by not even mentioning gun control in the wake of the Tucson shooting, but he did make reference to the repeal of the Don't Ask Don't Tell law, which had barred gays from openly serving in the military and had become a major rallying cry for the left.

"Starting this year, no American will be forbidden from serving the country they love because of who they love," Obama said. "And with that change, I call on all of our college campuses to open their doors to our military recruiters and the ROTC. It is time to leave behind the divisive battles of the past. It is time to move forward as one nation."

Though it was light on specific prescriptions, Obama's speech alluded to several lofty objectives for well into the future, including goals to connect 98 percent of Americans to high-speed wireless coverage within five years, to provide 80 percent of the country with access to high-speed rail within 25 years, and to generate 80 percent of the nation's electricity with clean energy sources by 2035 -- an ambition that the president also framed in bipartisan language.

"Some folks want wind and solar; others want nuclear, clean coal, and natural gas," Obama said. "To meet this goal, we will need them all, and I urge Democrats and Republicans to work together to make it happen."

When he turned to education policy, Obama received a rousing ovation when he said, "We need to teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair."

Obama's address was reflective of a political climate in which jobs and the economy remain at the forefront, and his State of the Union speech was among the lightest on foreign policy that has been delivered in the post 9/11 era.

But the president did note the end of U.S. combat patrols in Iraq and said that al Qaeda's leadership in Pakistan was facing severe pressure.

"Their leaders and operatives are being removed from the battlefield; their safe-havens are shrinking," Obama said. "And we have sent a message from the Afghan border to the Arabian Peninsula to all parts of the globe: we will not relent, we will not waver, and we will defeat you."

Though Tuesday night's speech featured frequent acknowledgments of the political and economic uncertainties that remain in the wake of a devastating recession and anxiety over America's standing in the world, Obama received what was perhaps his biggest applause line of the night when he delivered a piece of the uplifting rhetoric that helped propel him into the White House in the first place.

"As contentious and frustrating and messy as our democracy can sometimes be," he said, "I know there isn't a person here who would trade places with any other nation on earth."