WASHINGTON — In his final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama urged Americans to rekindle their belief in the promise of change that first carried him into the White House.
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“It’s easier to be cynical, to accept that change isn’t possible and politics is hopeless,” Obama said. “But if we give up now, then we forsake a better future.
“The future we want,” he insisted, “is within our reach.” But opportunity and security for American families “will only happen if we work together … if we fix our politics.”
The nation’s goals must include “a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids,” he said.
The president used his final State of the Union address to pose “four big questions” about the future of the country.
“Will we respond to the changes of our time with fear, turning inward as a nation, and turning against each other as a people?” Obama said. “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’s questions began with one about the economy
— “How do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy?” Another asked how the U.S. could solve technological problems like curing cancer and halting climate change. Another asked how the U.S. could avoid becoming the world’s policeman. And the fourth asked how Americans could learn to reason together, giving up the bitter gridlock of today’s Washington.
“We’ve made progress,” Obama said, in answering the first question. “But we need to make more.”
Obama warned against “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.”
Obama ticked through a retrospective of his domestic and foreign-policy actions in office, including helping lead the economy back from the brink of depression, taking aggressive action on climate change and ending a Cold War-era freeze with Cuba.
Yet he was frank about failing to ease the deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans.
“The rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better,” he conceded.
“There’s no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I’ll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office.”
Those sentiments echoed comments he made during an interview that aired earlier Tuesday on the Today show. Obama said “it’s a regret” that he was not able to do more to bring the country together politically.
“But I’m pretty confident that the overwhelming majority of Americans are looking for the kind of politics that does feed our hopes and not our fears, that does work together and doesn’t try to divide, that isn’t looking for simplistic solutions and scapegoating but looks for us buckling down and figuring out, ‘How do we make things work for the next generation?’” Obama said.
His words were echoed by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was selected to give the Republican response to Obama’s address. Underscoring how the heated campaign rhetoric about immigration and minority groups from GOP candidate Donald Trump, in particular, has unnerved some Republican leaders, Haley called on Americans to resist the temptation “to follow the siren call of the angriest voices.”
“No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome,” Haley said.
GAS PRICES, GLOBAL
WARMING
Obama opened his address with a few ad-libbed jokes about the political race to pick his successor. Promising to keep his address short, he drew cheers and laughter when he noted that some of the legislators in the audience were antsy to get back to Iowa, home of the nation’s first caucuses.
And he returned to the topic of gasoline prices — the subject of many past Republican attacks — with a line that noted how low the prices had gone. “Under two bucks a gallon ain’t bad,” Obama said.
Mindful of the election year, Obama avoided the traditional litany of policy proposals. White House officials said before his speech that he was planning a “nontraditional” speech that would offer a broad, long-term view of the nation.
Obama reiterated his call for working with Republicans on criminal justice changes and finalizing an Asia-Pacific trade pact, and he vowed to keep pushing for action on curbing gun violence and fixing the nation’s immigration laws.
He touted his efforts to fight global warming, saying those who doubt that global warming is occurring are welcome to “have at it,” but they will end up “pretty lonely.”
He said they’ll be on the opposite side of the military, most businesses, a majority of Americans and almost all scientists.
He touched upon the global climate pact that the U.S. and other nations around the world reached in Paris in December, saying it reflects that climate change is a problem that must be solved.
The president said investing in climate solutions is also a chance for U.S. businesses to produce “the energy of the future.” He was pointing to wind and solar technology.
Making an overture to new House Speaker Paul Ryan, Obama highlighted the Republican’s interest in fighting poverty.
Obama said he’d welcome “a serious discussion about strategies we can all support, like expanding tax cuts for low-income workers without kids.”
The president noted, however, that there are plenty of other areas where it’s more difficult to find agreement between Republicans and Democrats.
He said those include what role the government should play in making sure the system works for ordinary Americans, not just the wealthy.
About 30 minutes into the address, Ryan’s office released a statement saying Obama’s speech “isn’t going so well.”
“Lofty platitudes and nostalgic rhetoric may make for nice sound bites, but they don’t explain how to” solve problems, such as defeating the Islamic State terrorist group, fixing social safety net programs or getting the economy back on track,” Ryan said.
Obama’s speech “isn’t a real path forward to restore a confident America,” he added. “We can do so much better.”
Part of Obama’s address focused on the fight against the Islamic State.
He promised a campaign to “take out” the Islamic State and chastised Republicans for “over-the-top claims” about the extremist group’s power.
“As we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger and must be stopped,” he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. “But they do not threaten our national existence.”
Obama criticized those who say the Islamic State represents Islam. He called that a lie and said rhetoric like that pushes away allies the U.S. needs to win the fight against the militants.
Obama was eager to look beyond his own presidency, casting the actions he’s taken as a springboard for future economic progress and national security.
“The United States of America is the most powerful nation on earth. Period,” he declared. “It’s not even close.”
In the GOP response, Haley touched upon many of the same topics as the president. She called on Americans to resist “the siren call of the angriest voices” in how the nation treats immigrants.
The U.S.-born daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley said the country is facing its most dangerous security threat since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That was a reference to the Islamic State, which has taken credit for attacks in Paris and elsewhere and may have inspired last month’s mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif.
“During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices,” Haley, mentioned by some as a potential vice presidential candidate this year, said in her party’s formal response to Obama. “We must resist that temptation.”
The nation’s youngest governor at 43, Haley also seemed to try to smooth some of her party’s more combative edges. She said Republicans “would respect differences in modern families” and said it isn’t necessary “to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference.”
Without offering specifics, she said that while Democrats bear much responsibility, Republicans “need to accept that we’ve played a role in how and recognize why our government is broken.”
Haley said the U.S. should continue admitting “properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion” — an apparent reference to calls by Trump to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country. She also hewed closely to GOP demands in the immigration debate, saying: “That does not mean we just flat out open our borders,” and said the U.S. should refuse entry to refugees “whose intentions cannot be determined.”
Information for this article was contributed by Julie Pace of The Associated Press; and by Juliet Eilperin and David A. Fahrenthold of The Washington Post.