On foreign policy, Obama rejected the notion that “our enemies (are) getting stronger and America (is) getting weaker”.
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Republicans are pressing the president to outline a more comprehensive strategy for defeating the Islamic State and preventing terror attacks in the United States. Period. It’s not even close… when it comes to every important global issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead – they call us.
The president’s address to lawmakers and a prime-time television audience was meant to both shape his legacy and put his imprint squarely on the race to succeed him. Obama said. “Or will we face the future with confidence in who we are, what we stand for, and the incredible things we can do together?”
Ms Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, called on the nation to resist “the siren call of the angriest voices” in anxious times. “No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country”, she said.
He cited his deal with Iran in which the Iranians agreed to give up some of their nuclear capacity in exchange for relief from worldwide sanctions.
“There is this doubling-down on a dark vision on the state of the American economy and the state of America’s leadership around the world that he believes is just not true”, Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security advisor who helped shape the president’s speech, said earlier Tuesday.
He painted the jihadists as “masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks, twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages”.
“Changes in our political process – in not just who gets elected but how they get elected – that will only happen when the American people demand it”, he said.
Obama also hopes to counter the Republican narrative of a nation in decline under the Democrats and to implicitly intervene directly in the 2016 race by arguing that the nation still craves the politics of hope, rather than of division.
On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump’s heated rhetoric is seen by some voters as a welcome contrast to Mr. Obama’s cool calls for civility.
Trump had his own rebuttal over Twitter, remarking: “The #SOTU speech is really boring, slow, lethargic – very hard to watch!”
The address was one of Obama’s few remaining chances to capture the attention of millions of Americans before November’s election of a new president who will take office next January.
Obama admitted perhaps a president with the skills of Abraham Lincoln or Franklin D. Roosevelt could have bridged the divide, but said he will not give up during his last 12 months in office.
He decried the practice of gerrymandering – the drawing of congressional district maps by dominant state political officials to favor their parties. He also urged steps to make voting easier and reduce the influence of money in politics.
Mindful of the scant prospect for major legislative action in an election year, Obama avoided the traditional litany of policy proposals.
But given that this was his last address, Mr Obama said he wanted to look further into the future. And because he’s gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past forty years, I’m putting Joe in charge of Mission Control.
Obama did not address the sailors’ detention in his speech. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) skipped the State of the Union to campaign in New Hampshire, where an event Tuesday afternoon was interrupted by protesters.
Obama pledged at the start of his State of the Union address that he was going to try to keep his last address shorter.
“If this Congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to our troops and the world, you should finally authorize the use of military force against ISIL”, Obama said in his final State of the Union address, using an alternate acronym for the IS. Among those sitting in first lady Michelle Obama’s guest box was Edith Childs, the SC woman who first introduced Mr. Obama to the “Fired up!” Aides to the president say he is returning more to the tone of his 2008 campaign speeches, the ones that won the electorate to his side in the first place.
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The president himself appeared to get momentarily caught up in the emotion of the moment.
