Although Donald Trump was not mentioned by name, President Obama’s remarks criticised the Republican presidential front-runner for calling for the temporary ban of Muslims from entering the US. “And each time, we overcame those fears”. We did not, in the words of Lincoln, adhere to the “dogmas of the quiet past”.
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Added Rep. Jason Chaffetz: “He’s not exactly leading by example”. And because we did - because we saw opportunity where others saw only peril - we emerged stronger and better than before. While he stressed the need to make a “choice” about America’s future-a nod toward the 2016 elections-he described “the rancor and suspicion between the parties” as a supreme regret of his presidency.
With less than three weeks until the Iowa caucuses – the first votes cast in the process to replace him – Mr Obama berated Republican economic rhetoric, saying “anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction”.
Hultgren even said the president signaled that he will “go around” Congress and “thumb his nose at the Constitution”.
“Masses of fighters on the back of pick-up trucks, twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages: they pose an enormous danger to civilians; they have to be stopped”. Respondents were originally interviewed as part of a random national sample conducted January 5-11, and indicated they planned to watch tonight’s speech and would be willing to be re-interviewed when it was over.
Some issues were more complicated. “That may work as a TV soundbite, but it doesn’t pass muster on the world’s stage”.
US President Barack Obama has urged Americans in his final State of the Union address to repudiate politics that target people because of race or religion.
A better future is in reach, he said but “it will only happen if we fix our politics”. And during last year’s speech, he made a passing reference to “the events in Ferguson and NY”, but reasoned, “surely we can understand a father who fears his son can’t walk home without being harassed. The world respects us not just for our arsenal, it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith”, he said. I thought that was one of his most liberal, divisive speeches yet.
“When politicians insult Muslims… that doesn’t make us safer”, he said, drawing applause from the crowd in the House of Representatives chamber. That’s not telling it like it is. “It’s just wrong”, he said.
Though President Barack Obama in his final State of the Union address asked for Congress to work with him to solve problems and achieve goals during his past year in the White House, it appears Mississippi’s Republican senators are ready to move on – and in a different direction. “Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get attention”, he said. Most of all, democracy breaks down when the average person feels their voice doesn’t matter; that the system is rigged in favor of the rich or the powerful or some narrow interest.
“Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America”. Don’t fall back on scapegoats or stereotypes. “We wish the president had done better by the American people during his stewardship”.
The president’s address at 9 p.m. ET is one of his last chances to command a huge prime-time television audience and talk to Americans directly after a seven-year presidency shaped by a hard-grinding economic recovery at home and chaos overseas. “And I know it continues to be a growing concern, and most people that aren’t in that culture don’t realize maybe how pervasive it has become”. T hat’s the country we love. Clear-eyed. Big-hearted. Undaunted by challenge. “So, my fellow Americans, whatever you may believe, whether you prefer one party or no party, our collective future depends on your willingness to uphold your obligations as a citizen”. However, the State of the Union has suffered a major drop-off in viewers in recent years.
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As for Trump’s own reaction?
