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| SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES |
Hearkening back to the themes of change that helped sweep him into office eight years ago, President Obama used his seventh and final State of the Union address to illustrate how different the nation looks as he prepares to leave but largely avoided most of the flashpoint topics that created the most controversy during his presidency.
Going through a laundry list of accomplishments, Obama focused on the progress the nation has made under his watch: The growing economy and the focus on shrinking income inequality, the fight on terrorism and keeping America safe and the need to maintain focus on American technological innovation.
But the President used the word “gun” just one time over the course of the speech, despite an enormous effort in recent weeks to focus on gun control — including the announcement just days earlier of a slew of controversial executive actions on the matter.
Instead, he maintained an optimistic and unifying message, and, in a subtle nod to the upcoming 2016 election, encouraged Americans to embrace change and reject fear.
“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,” he said, before acknowledging that many find such change scary.
“America has been through big changes before,” he said. “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,” he said.
“And each time, we overcame those fears,” he said. “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.”
But “such progress is not inevitable,” Obama warned.
“It is the result of choices we make together,” he said, in a thinly veiled nod to the upcoming election. “Will we respond to the changes of our time with fear, turning inward as a nation, and turning against each other as a people? Or will we face the future with confidence in who we are, what we stand for, and the incredible things we can do together?”
Obama appeared to reject much of the claims made by Republican presidential candidates, such as GOP front-runner Donald Trump, of American decline at home and abroad.
“All the talk of America’s economic decline is political hot air,” Obama said to grand applause from Democrats in attendance. “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.”
“What I’m asking for is hard. It’s easier to be cynical; to accept that change isn’t possible, and politics is hopeless, and to believe that our voices and actions don’t matter,” he said. “But if we give up now, then we forsake a better future.”
“As frustration grows, there will be voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don’t look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background,” he said.
“But democracy does require basic bonds of trust between its citizens. It doesn’t work if we think the people who disagree with us are all motivated by malice, or that our political opponents are unpatriotic,” Obama said. “Democracy grinds to a halt without a willingness to compromise; or when even basic facts are contested, and we listen only to those who agree with us.”
“Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get attention,” he said before offering a prescription — and an uplifting trope that resembled a calling card for his desired legacy.
“The future we want … is within our reach. But it will only happen if we work together. It will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates,” Obama said.
“It will only happen if we fix our politics,” he said.
“A better politics doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything,” Obama added, according to his prepared remarks. “This is a big country, with different regions and attitudes and interests.”
“Whatever you may believe, whether you prefer one party or nonparty, our collective future depends on your willingness to uphold your obligations as a citizen,” “Obama said. “To vote. To speak out. To stand up for others, especially the weak, especially the vulnerable, knowing that each of us is only here because somebody, somewhere, stood up for us. To stay active in our public life so it reflects the goodness and decency and optimism that I see in the American people every single day.”
But he notably avoided many of the most controversial achievements and most divisive unfulfilled policy proposals.
Facing an audience filled with Republican lawmakers who have thwarted much of his agenda, Mr Obama also issued a clarion call to "fix our politics".
"It's one of the few regrets of my presidency - that the rancour and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better," said the president, who swept to the White House on a unifying promise of hope and change.
He also totally skipped over the biggest news item of the day out of the Middle East — that Iran had detained 10 U.S. sailors after a pair of Navy patrol boats drifted into its waters.
By contrast, he referred to the economy at least 15 times and used “ISIL” — the acronym for the terrorist group also known as ISIS — nine times and referred to “terrorists” or “terrorism” another seven times.
Despite Obama having ignored the refugee issue and of gay marriage, both topics were represented in the form of the President’s personal guests.
Among them were Refaai Hamo, a Syrian scientist who received refugee status and moved to Troy, Mich., after his wife and daughter were killed in a missile strike; and Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the historic Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in the U.S.
Also in attendance was Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue gay marriage licenses. She was a personal guest of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
Just as noteworthy were those who were not in attendance.
Obama somberly honored the countless victims of gun violence in the U.S. during his address by leaving a seat empty in the House chamber.
The empty seat, in First Lady Michelle Obama's box, was meant to "illustrate the victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice," the White House said earlier this week.
The NRA seized on the gesture by preemptively announcing a formal rebuttal to Obama’s speech, before it even occurred, that will air Wednesday morning.
Republicans, for their part, didn’t wait as long.
The official Republican response to his address was delivered by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
Ms Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, called on the nation to resist "the siren call of the angriest voices" in anxious times, according to excerpts.
Her remarks in defence of immigrants were also interpreted as a veiled swipe on Mr Trump and other hardline conservative White House hopefuls.
Nobody who works hard and follows the laws “should ever feel unwelcome in this country,” she added.
In his speech, Mr Obama unveiled no specific policy proposals, but instead sought to generate support for items high on his to-do list, including closure of Guantanamo Bay and tighter gun laws.
As the two-term Democratic president seeks to define his legacy after seven years in the White House, he focused on accomplishments such as his signature healthcare law.
Mr Obama also touted more recent achievements including a nuclear deal with Iran, a diplomatic thaw with Cuba and a huge budget deal with Congress.
However, his remarks on Tehran came amid the Iranian seizure of two US Navy vessels and their 10 crew in the Gulf.
With News Wire Services
