Still, Obama’s reliance on executive powers means many of his actions could be erased by a Republican president.
Advertisement
Mr Obama has said his failure to convince Congress to act on gun law reform has been his greatest frustration as President.
Turning to the future though, McDonough emphasized the President’s determination to not waste the rest of the time he has in office.
Be proactive – Use the “Flag as Inappropriate” link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Obama, his speechwriters and his national security team were still working on drafts of the speech last week and over the weekend, said White House officials. The very first TV broadcast of the annual speech was by Harry Truman in 1947, the first live webcast was delivered by George W. Bush in 2002, and Barack Obama was the first to introduce an enhanced live stream of the speech – which included text, graphs and images, alongside footage – in 2011. The White House also started a Snapchat account to share “behind-the-scene images of the speech”, according to the Associated Press.
In the video, Obama says he has never been more optimistic about the path the United States is on. “Rather, he wanted to take a step back and look at the future of this country”.
McDonough seized on the latest GOP sparring to tie all of the Republican nominees together and highlight the differences between where Obama thinks he’s brought the country and where it could go should Democrats lose the White House. Regardless of how you feel about the president’s politics, there’s no doubt his campaigns and his presidency have forever changed how politicians and their teams are expected to communicate with the public.
Several of Michelle Obama’s guests at the speech are a nod to the issue, including gun control supporter Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and Ryan Reyes, whose partner Larry “Daniel” Kaufman died in the mass shooting in San Bernardino last month.
Obama rarely misses an opportunity to mock his Republican critics, as he has routinely challenged that notion that America is suffering under his leadership.
Republicans last week sent the president a partial repeal of Obamacare, his signature health-care bill, which he promptly vetoed.
Adande Thorne, a video game enthusiast known as “sWooZie”, and Destin Sandlin, who makes educational videos, will quiz Obama on Friday in the East Room, where replicas of the sets they use for their web videos are being constructed.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) is scheduled to deliver the Republican response after the address. “There’s just a few things the man can do between now and November”.
Advertisement
Amazon won’t live-stream Tuesday night’s address, but it will make the video available to all customers the next day.
