Three presidents have opted not to deliver their final speech in person; President Obama was not the fourth, tonight giving what was his last State of the Union address.
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Frederick Gordon in the Political Science Department at Columbus State University thinks Obama’s speech was hopeful.
It is likely that this relationship will only go awry considering the massive support Republican forerunners are gaining due to the fear amongst Americans post San Bernardino and Paris attacks. Obama proposed few legislative agenda items to the Republican-controlled House and Senate, opting instead to review some of his administration’s accomplishments.
That said, on some issues, the Republicans were correct to criticize the president.
Yet Obama’s speech was not universally received as a victory lap, nor should it have been.
Republicans fired back, accusing the president of having no strategy to defeat ISIS. “Over-the-top claims that this is World War-III just play into their hands”, he said. They have to be stopped. “That’s the kind of propaganda they use to recruit”.
Rejecting a narrative being popularised by Republican frontrunners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz that the Islamic State was an existential threat to the USA, the President said: “We just need to call them what they are – killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed…”
“When politicians insult Muslims, whether overseas or our fellow citizens, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid is called names, that doesn’t make us safer. For the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the families that we can still save, let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all”, he said.
Obama said in his speech that he regretted that politics have become more polarized during his time in office and that average Americans feels “the system is rigged” against them. When the slaughter of innocent children at Sandy Hook Elementary called for greater efforts to keep guns out of the hands of madmen, their answer was no. Again and again, hard-liners have worked to sabotage efforts at bipartisan progress, even when they knew their intransigence could inflict serious harm on the nation.
Debunking another myth created by Republicans, Obama pivoted to America’s standing in the world and the ludicrous notion that it has somehow slipped while he has been in office. And when it comes to every important global issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead.
“I am concerned about the socialistic direction of our country”, he said.
Iran has repeatedly violated elements of the agreement without facing sufficient consequences, say bipartisan members of Congress. The sailors were released January 13.
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Only now, in the 11th hour of Obama’s presidency, is Congress discovering ways for the two parties to work together. “I believe in change because I believe in you, the American people”, the president concluded, which was met with applause. “And that’s why I stand here confident as I have ever been that the state of our union is strong”.
