This Tuesday, Barack Obama presented his last annual State of the Union address as President of the United States. Overall, he left the impression of a man who knows that he failed, from certain points of view, in his term, also rejecting the politics of tribalism and fear that some of the presidential candidates have been using, as stated by CNN Politics.
Even though a lot of people were looking forward to hearing if he has to say something about the Republican candidates during the State of the Union, the President did not name any of them. Still, this doesn’t mean that he didn’t made subtle references to some of the favorites, like Donald Trump and Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
Critics weren’t ignored
President Obama also took on critics who claim that he was the one who weakened American power abroad, underplaying the threat coming from terrorist groups like ISIS. He also agreed that the technological advances and economic dislocation are currently making citizens ‘afraid of the future and anxious’.
On the other side, he urged them to avoid falling prey to the periodic temptation emerged throughout history and think again before judging minorities and resist social change.
“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,” Obama said during the State of the Nation address. “And each time, we overcame those fears.”
The U.S. remained strong
“We made change work for us, always extending America’s promise outward, to the next frontier, to more and more people. And because we did — because we saw opportunity where others saw only peril — we emerged stronger and better than before,” the President added.
The President maintained an optimistic tone, claiming that economic opportunities, security and peace are possible, but in order to achieve this, the United States should return to “rational, constructive debates.” Could this be a reference to some of the Republican debates organized by Donald Trump, where such topic were rarely approached?
Finally, Barack Obama said that all these will happens if “we fix our politics”.
A conclusion of the last seven years
To sum up, his seventh State of the Union address was Barack Obama’s summary of his two presidential terms. He also wanted to respond to all Republican party members who criticized his performance as President.
“I told you earlier all the talk of America’s economic decline is political hot air. Well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It’s not even close,” Obama said, cited by CNN Politics.
