State Of The Union

State of the Union

In President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, Obama returned to some unfinished business from his first term as president.
Standing before the world and a joint session of Congress, Obama delivered his fourth State of the Union address.
In an earlier column, I predicted that immigration would be a key point during this year's address.
I also predicted the president would speak on gun control, gay rights, equal pay for women, climate change and the economy.
While the president hit on all the topics I predicted, there were a few shockers that the president will have on his agenda.
The president announced that American forces will move into a supporting role and more troops will come home.
“Tonight, I can announce that over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan,” Obama said.
By far, the surprise topic of this year's address is the growing threat of cyber attacks. Not many if any had this predicted as key point in the president's speech.
The president has called on Congress to face the rapidly-growing threat from cyber attacks.
Obama said that our enemies are seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions and our air traffic control systems.
“We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy,” Obama said.
During the 2012 presidential election, in response to former Massachusetts Gov. Romney’s statement of the U.S. having less naval ships, Obama said, “Well Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets.”
During Tuesday's address, Obama seemed to focus on bringing America's defenses into a 21st century standard.
I made the prediction Obama would address the topic of immigration reform. For the past few months, immigration reform has been a hot topic. For example, during this year's presidential campaigns, both nominees considered vital to go on Telemundo. Romney even had a fake tan to appeal to a more Hispanic demographic.
Obama laid out a specific plan for how he would deal with immigration reform. Obama said he plans to strengthen border patrol and create a more responsible way for immigrants to earn citizenship. The president catchphrase on this key point was simple but infectious.
“Let’s get it done,” Obama said multiple times, which drew one of the largest ovations of the speech, from both sides of Congress.
Yet the emotional climax of this year speech came during gun control with Obama saying yet another catch phrase, “They deserve a vote.”
Obama used the examples of Gabby Giffords, the families of Newton and the families of Aurora to personalize the issue.
Yet for me, the strongest voice of this speech was Haidya Pendleton. Pendleton was a 15-year-old girl who lost her life during the shooting less then a mile away from Obama’s house.
Even Obama struggled with the emotion during this portion of his speech. His eyes glazed over as he said, “Just three weeks ago, she was here, in Washington, with her classmates, performing for her country at my inauguration. And a week later, she was shot and killed.”
During the loudest standing ovation among Democrats, Obama repeated they deserve a vote. However, they deserve a vote only means to give gun control legislation a chance and that may be all the president will be able to do.
One thing is clear, it will not be easy for those who oppose the president's legislation on gun control.
Right now, Obama has time on his side, but the longer it takes to pass legislation, the less support he is going to find among a bipartisan bill.
While I predicted Immigration reform would be a significant topic, I was also surprised to find that the president touched upon reducing our nuclear arsenal and cyber hacking.