Nikki Haley received some tough words from Republicans last night after her GOP response to President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address on Tuesday, January 12, 2016.
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“When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesn’t make us safer”.
“I hope we can work together this year on bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform, and helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse”, Obama said, citing examples of key issues requiring support from Democrats and Republicans alike. The president took responsibility for failing to achieve his goals, particularly when it came to smoothing partisan politics.
To the editor: In this politically charged, critical election year, President Obama’s final State of Union address was largely nonpartisan; most poignantly, it addressed the broken political system in America. Indeed, as the New York Times observes, the speech “was more a broad statement of his vision rather than a policy prescription” (though he did announce a new effort to cure cancer led by Joe Biden).
He made sure to address his plan to make college affordable for every American and also highlighted his successes in reducing student loan payments to 10 percent of a borrower’s income.
Paul Ryan, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, also reacted dismissively to Mr Obama’s remarks, saying “I can’t say I was disappointed by the president’s speech, but that’s because I wasn’t expecting much”. He noted that the United States will always act to protect its allies and will mobilize the world to work with it “on issues of global concern”. “We just need to call them what they are - killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed”. “We need to accept that we’ve played a role in how and why our government is broken, and then we need to fix it. …” This isn’t a matter of political correctness.
The White House notes that unemployment in the pair of Republican-leaning states has fallen significantly since Obama took office.
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A confident Mr Obama sought to cast himself as an optimistic foil to foes who warn the country is going in the wrong direction after his seven years in office. “And each time, we overcame those fears”. Yet relations with China remain strained, terrorism continues to stalk the world, inequality in the USA remains rife and the bitterness and suspicion between the two main political parties is preventing effective policymaking. It is still vibrant, and it is still the most powerful nation on earth.
