President Barack Obama gave his last State of the Union on Wednesday night, Obama gave an emotional address, snapping back at Republican candidates, and focusing on the future for America.
Obama opened up with a joke saying, “For this final one, I’m going to try to make it shorter. I know some of you are antsy to get back to Iowa.” President Obama loves education and believes that we should make college more affordable for Americans, but that’s not an answer for getting Americans stable in this economy.
“Of course, a great education isn’t all we need in this new economy. We also need benefits and protections that provide a basic measure of security,” Obama stated.
The topic on economy was addressed by saying “The United States of America has the strongest economy in the world and if there’s anyone saying our economy has declined, it’s fiction.”
“For Wall Street 2015 was a roller coaster. Record highs in spring were followed by an abrupt summertime swoon, prompted by worries about the strong dollar’s impact on exports, China’s slowing economy and sagging oil prices,” according to the Associated Press. Even with the financial crisis, we had the middle class dealing with food stamp receipts. That opened up a can of worms leading to debates about how so much money could go into food stamp costs and how Wall Street and the government was hurting from these expenses.
“Food stamp recipients didn’t cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did,” said Obama. Also addressing the problems with health care, especially ObamaCare that was launched in 2010.
There were many concerns about how people were going to use the system because ObamaCare was shut down for such a long period of time. “Though that law has helped decrease the number of uninsured people in the United States, progress may have paused, people remain concerned about rising costs of prescription drugs. Many face employer-provided coverage with growing premiums, deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs,” according to Associated Press.
With these concerns from Americans, it sparked Republicans and Democrats debating over ObamaCare, but also just health care in general. Obama addressed the topic by saying, “Now, I’m guessing we won’t agree on health care anytime soon.” Some people applauded, but it’s a true statement because it’s a recurrent problem and it doesn’t matter who is running the country.
The thing that most people are happy about (if you own a car), low gas prices. Gas prices went down last year passing into the upcoming 2016 and has been up and down as usual. But finally it’s around a dollar and a half a gallon now.
Obama fired back at Republican candidates on how he is handling ISIS by saying, “Our answer must not be tough talk or carpet bomb civilians that might be a great soundbite, but it doesn’t pass muster on the world stage.”
Obama even made a remark pointing to Donald Trump about how he is remarking to people that are Muslim or anyone who has a different religion. “We need to reject any politics that targets people for race and religion,” Obama said.
Although President Obama is happy on how powerful the United States is, he regrets that he couldn’t break the division among the two parties. But he left on a good note and said, “I believe in change because I believe in you—the American people, that’s why I stand here today has confident I can be and say that the state of our union is strong.”
De’Andre Stringer
Reporter