President Obama is changing his tune on certain matters and this is not sitting well with many of his supporters. His long-standing priority on immigration reform was put on the backburner and now his cautious approach to nuclear energy has been thrown out the window. President Obama is actually endorsing the construction of nuclear power plants.
However, it is not a complete changeover. The President has stated that his endorsement of nuclear power generation will have many conditions attached so that it stays in line with his stance on the environment. His concerns on disposing radioactive waste and federal spending on nuclear power are still high on the list. His administration is also in the process of shutting down Yucca Mountain which was earmarked as the burial site for high-level radioactive waste and is responsible for the demise of a proposal (inherited from the Bush Administration) to reprocess nuclear fuel.
The support for nuclear energy, outlined in the State of the Union speech, is a reaction to the declining popularity that the President is facing. Although he has stated that he is not interested in the popularity angle being president, the issue is indirectly affecting issues that are near and dear to him. For example, the healthcare bill that he has been pushing doggedly has run into a major snag with the loss of the Senate seat in Massachusetts. It appears that Obama is pacifying the public and the Republicans in a subtle effort, to get his agenda back on track.