POTUS: State of the Union

This archived article was written by: Alex Holt

Improving on four major aspects of American life, plus highlighting on a New Economy, Spirit of Innovation, Leadership in the World, and The Politics of Hope was President Barrack Obama putting his thoughts into a historic final State of The Union address.
He reviewed his last seven years in office, reciting the improvement of various sections of American life by providing statistics as to improvement in job creation, employment, removal of troops in Afghanistan and the number of insured Americans.
Starting off with the New Economy, Obama said: “Anyone claiming America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction.” He noted that even though wealth has increased, it has not helped the average American at the bottom so much, so he called for Congress to raise the minimum wage, provide equal pay, provide free community college, and strengthen Social Security and Medicare. “America is about giving Americans a chance to work.” He said.
The New Economy is more about helping out the middle class, which is the backbone of America, and helping those who are slipping into poverty will help shape a better brighter American economy.
The president continued with a talk on the Spirit of Innovation and how to reignite it. He recalled the space race, a time in which Americans fought to beat the Russians to the moon and develop new ideas and technology.
Obama quoted Joe Biden when he said, “The next moon shot is to cure cancer.” He put the vice president in charge of mission control for spearheading a new space race to cure cancer telling Congress, “Let America be the first country to cure cancer once and for all.”
He talked about climate change where he asked Congress to pursue greener energies and build green jobs. He talked about developments in solar and wind power and also the decline of American dependence on foreign oil.
Obama stressed hard on the importance of stopping global climate change so that the next generations would be able to see the beauty of our planet, before he moved on.
“People of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead, they call us.” That was the remark made by Obama when referring to the U.S.’s role in the world. He spoke on the problems of ISIS and its threat to the U.S. In a bold move, he asked Congress to take a vote on allowing U.S. troops to engage ISIS on the ground, so that the terrorist threat could be more easily tackled.
Obamba asked Congress to shut down the prison in Guantanamo Bay, lift the Embargo on Cuba, and approve of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. By doing these things, the president assured that U.S. influence and power would remain strong and make other nations work more with us.
The president moved on to talk about the targeting of Muslims and how that empowers the terrorists who are plotting against us, stating that we have to stop that kind of thinking.
He ended his part on U.S. Leadership by saying, “‘We the people,’ our constitution begins with those three words, it means we are all in this together.”
He ended with A Better Politics, where he discussed giving people an easier opportunity to vote, how politicians need to move away from themselves and work on bi-partisan issues and work on campaign issues.
He announced that he would travel the county to work on promoting reform, but he said he couldn’t do it alone and told Congress they would have to help.
He inspired everyone by making a simple statement, “Each of us is only here because somebody somewhere stood up for us.” He ended the night with the traditional God Bless America.
Afterward, the Republican response by Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina attacked the president’s record by stating that the president always falls short of his words and that he was unwilling and unable to deal with the problems at hand.
The governor continued to say that Democrats bear the most responsibility for the problems in Washington, but Republicans do share some the blame too, but it is their job to fix it. She ended by saying that America is being tested and that only the American people can stop it.
The progress made by President Obama has benefited the nation, and stands to make bold plans for his final year in office. This is definitely a historic time in America, for the next president is still an unknown, but one thing is for sure, the next president will have to inherit the legacy of President Barrack Obama and either destroy it or continue it.