Is President Obama ready to make retirement a top political issue?

While numerous advocacy groups certainly hope so, no less anentity than the American Academy of Actuaries is calling on him—andon Congress—“to make concerted progress this year to address theeconomic and financial challenges that affect Americans’ retirementand health security.”

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“The White House has said the president will focus on ‘bigthings’ in the State of the Union address,” Tom Wildsmith,president of the Academy, said in a statement.

Wildsmith continued, “One of the biggest long-term challengesfacing the country is ensuring the sustainability of the financialsecurity systems that millions of Americans rely on to protecttheir health, retirement, and property. We cannot meet thechallenges facing complex public programs such as Social Security,Medicare, and Medicaid without relying on sound actuarialprinciples. These principles are also essential for preserving theviability of private-sector options, such as employer-sponsoredpension plans or insurance coverage.”

It’s expected in some quarters that in his final SOTU address,Obama will go beyond his MyRA retirement plan—introduced inlast year’s SOTU address—in proposals aimed at improving thefinancial security of retirees.

He’s expected to discuss a number of measures aimed at betteringretirement preparedness and security,which have already come under fire from various financialorganizations.

The only sure thing is that, no matter what he proposes—oromits—there will be criticism.

The Academy, for its part, has already decided that thepromotion of lifetime income is one if its priorities with regardto retirement. Its “Lifetime Income Initiative,” spearheaded by itsLifetime Income Risk Joint Task Force, focuses on “address[ing] therisks and related issues of inadequate lifetime income amongretirees,” according to its website. The task force’s goal is to“educate the public, lawmakers, regulators, financial advisors,employers and the media on the risk of inadequate lifetimeincome.”