Washington – In his final State of the Union speech on Tuesday, President Barack Obama encouraged Americans to reject the politics of polarization, rancor and fear that have ruled in the current presidential campaign. Instead, he urged them to embrace the ideals of hope and change that have over the years made of the United States “the envy of the world.”
The first African-American president remarked his opposition to perceiving the war on the Islamic State as the World War III and announced a new national effort to cure cancer.
“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,” Obama said. “And each time, we overcame those fears,” the President added.
He went on saying that America’s vision to change and see opportunities where others “saw only peril,” has pushed the nation to emerge stronger and better than ever. He assured that is was possible to make of this planet a place of opportunity, security, sustainability and peace, as long as the U.S. could return to “rational, constructive debates,” suggesting huge transformation was possible only if the nation fixed its politics.
Of course, there was strong opposition from Republicans who affirm he has brought only negative transformation to the country by thwarting the Constitution.
Obama vowed to launch a national effort to warrant and improve voting rights, drawing particular attention from minorities. He also promised that America would find the cure of cancer and named Vice President Joe Biden to lead “Mission Control” as part of a new “moon shot” to cure the deadly disease. Last year, Biden lost his son to cancer and has since been making huge efforts to help Congress to give researchers at the National Institutes of Health “the strongest resources they’ve had in over a decade,” Obama said.
As for the ISIS resurgence, Obama emphasized that the group did not represent a threat to national existence and affirmed that was precisely the story ISIS wanted to spread as a propaganda to recruit people. He asked Americans to call the extremists what they are, “killers and fanatics” who have to be eliminated.
Regarding the war on terror camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, he returned to one of his presidency’s first promises that Congress has been objecting. He described the facility as a “recruitment brochure for our enemies and was expensive and unnecessary.”
Source: CNN