WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Barack Obama implored Americans to turn away from cynicism and fear, in a final State of the Union address that at times represented a rebuke of the bitter campaign to succeed him. ADVERTISING WASHINGTON, D.C. —
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Barack Obama implored Americans to turn away from cynicism and fear, in a final State of the Union address that at times represented a rebuke of the bitter campaign to succeed him.
“The future we want — opportunity and security for our families, a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids — all that is within our reach,” Obama said. “But it will only happen if we work together. It will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates. It will only happen if we fix our politics.”
Obama and his aides viewed Tuesday’s State of the Union address as perhaps the last, best chance to burnish his legacy before a national audience — and convince Americans they should vote to keep a Democrat in the White House. His speech came in the shadow of events in the Persian Gulf, where Iranian forces captured and detained 10 U.S. sailors earlier on Tuesday, prompting renewed Republican criticism of Obama’s foreign policy.
Obama made no mention of the incident. The sailors were later returned.
The White House promised a non-traditional speech, and Obama delivered an address he said was designed to illustrate how the nation can progress after his presidency. He acknowledged that “rancor and suspicion” had grown between Democrats and Republicans, calling the development “one of the few regrets of my presidency.” Americans must repair the “basic bonds of trust between its citizens,” he said.
“It’s easier to be cynical,” he said. “But if we give up now, then we forsake a better future. Those with money and power will gain greater control over the decisions that could send a young soldier to war, or allow another economic disaster, or roll back the equal rights and voting rights that generations of Americans have fought, even died, to secure.”
“Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction,” he said, in what appeared to be a rebuttal of claims by the Republican presidential front-runner, Donald Trump, whose campaign slogan is “make America great again.”
“The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It’s not even close,” Obama said, repeating the sentence.
Trump said on Twitter that Obama’s address was “really boring, slow, lethargic — very hard to watch!”
The nation and its lawmakers, Obama said, could choose to seize the potential of the future and reshape how Americans work and live.
“We live in a time of extraordinary change — change that’s reshaping the way we live, the way we work, our planet and our place in the world,” Obama said. “And whether we like it or not, the pace of this change will only accelerate.”
Technology threatens to replace the jobs of anyone in a field where work can be automated, Obama said, reducing workers’ leverage for higher wages. The nation must figure out how to make technology “work for us, and not against us,” for example by combating climate change. For good measure, he highlighted rapid growth in wind and solar energy industries during his presidency.
The U.S. should enact universal pre-kindergarten programs for children and bolster training in math, science and engineering to ensure American workers remain vital, he said.
