Obama's 2016 State of The Union Address

President Obama delivered the final State of the Union Address of his presidency on January 12th. The president opened by saying, “I’m going to try to make it a little shorter. I know some of you are antsy to get back to Iowa.” Obama spoke on a wide number of topics in his address including the economy, health care, climate change, terrorism, and finding a cure for cancer. Early on in his speech, Obama gave a nod to Republican Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, saying, “Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the constructive approach that you and other leaders took at the end of last year to pass a budget and make tax cuts permanent for working families.” Obama then went on to vow he would continue to fight against gun violence, fight to raise the minimum wage, and fight to change the U.S. immigration system. Obama spoke to climate change skeptics saying, “Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it. You will be pretty lonely because you’ll be debating our military, most of America’s business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree it’s a problem and intend to solve it.” As for describing the actual state of the union Obama had this to say, “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. Let me tell you something. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth, period. Period.” Obama closed out his speech by saying, “I believe in change because I believe in you, the American people. And that’s why I stand here, as confident as I have ever been, that the state of our Union is strong.”

Photo Credit: Pete Souza

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