Richmond County’s congressman slammed President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address as divisive on domestic policy and “out of touch” on national security.
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The “Late Night” host said the president had dropped the mic and shown great testicular fortitude in daring Republicans to challenge his record.
In his address, President Obama extolled what he believes are the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s accomplishments.
“It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency – that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better”, Obama said.
But in his 2016 address, delivered Tuesday, Obama’s priorities had changed.
Trump has mounted much of his insurgent candidacy on the notion of America losing ground, both economically and in terms of global influence.
In her response, while criticizing President Obama on a number of issues, Haley also made a series of apparent references to Trump, including calling on Americans to ignore “the angriest voices” on the subject of immigration.
“I think he was absolutely spot on on where the country is at”, Democratic Party Chairman Dave Fisher said.
Ultimately, the future of his policies largely depends on what happens in November. “It makes it harder to achieve our goals”, said the president, as members of the audience in Congress errupted in applause. It is the first stop in what the White House says will be a year-long tour to talk with Americans about the need to fix the nation’s polarized politics. “This isn’t a matter of political correctness”.
“There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done”, Obama said, adding that he wanted to make sure that the American people understood his proposals. “But they do not threaten our national existence”, Mr Obama said.
“Tonight marks the eighth year I’ve come here to report on the State of the Union”.
Obama was due to fly on Wednesday to Baton Rouge, Louisiana – another red state – where he will take questions from residents at a town-hall meeting on Thursday.
Republicans seemed unfazed by Obama’s empty seat gesture.
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Marco Rubio also slammed Obama as underestimating the strength of the Islamic State. “Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control”.
