During his last State of the Union address, President Barack Obama said on Tuesday night that Americans need to reject any politics that target people because of race or religion, referencing presidential candidate Donald Trump’s prejudice against Muslims.

Obama addressed broad topics such as education, social security, the Affordable Care Act and climate change, rather than focusing mainly on specific policies, like he did in previous SOTU addresses.

Many important political figures were present in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol for the address, including U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who brought Syracuse University student Sean McAllister as his guest to the SOTU address.

Schumer invited McAllister, a junior in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, to show the problem of student loan debt and college affordability.

When speaking about education, the president said the country has to make college more affordable. One way to do that, he said, is to provide two free years of community college for everyone.

“We have to make college affordable for every American,” Obama said. “Because no hardworking student should be stuck in the red.”

Next Obama transitioned into talking about health care, stating that nearly 18 million Americans have gained health coverage through the ACA since it became law six years ago.

Obama discussed the partisanship on the topic of health care and said Americans won’t agree on health care any time soon. However, he said there should be ways for both parties to work together to improve economic security, whether it’s through programs to help with unemployment or establishing a system of wage insurance so that people can still pay bills.

“I believe a thriving private sector is the lifeblood of our economy,” Obama said. “I think there are outdated regulations that need to be changed, and there’s red tape that needs to be cut.”

In regard to the financial crisis, the president said Food Stamps recipients didn’t cause the financial crisis, but that recklessness on Wall Street did. He added that immigrants aren’t the reason wages have gone up enough. These statements were followed by applause from most people in the room.

After using the moon landing to inspire his audience, Obama announced Vice President Joe Biden, an SU College of Law alumnus, would be leading a new effort to cure cancer. Biden’s son Beau, also an SU College of Law alumnus, died of cancer last year.

On the topic of climate change, Obama said those still wanting to dispute climate change will be “pretty lonely.” He then listed a few facts about the U.S.’s goals for enacting climate change, which include cutting carbon pollution from power plants by 32 percent by 2030.

“Gas under two bucks a gallon ain’t bad, either,” Obama said.

The U.S.’s first priority, the president said, is protecting the American people and going after terrorist networks. However, he said destroying the Islamic State does not mean playing into its hands by thinking “this is World War III.”

He continued by calling out Congress members and saying that if they are serious about this war, they should authorize the use of military force against IS.

“If you doubt America’s commitment — or mine — to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden,” Obama said.

When speaking about the U.S. as a global leader, Obama said leadership is not about trying to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis. He said leadership means a wise application of military power and rallying the world behind causes that are right.

Obama said one of the few regrets of his presidency is that too many Americans feel as though their voices don’t matter.

But the president said he sees these voices everywhere he goes.

“That’s what makes me so hopeful about our future,” Obama said, ending his SOTU address. “Because of you. I believe in you.”

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley delivered the Republican response after Obama’s SOTU address ended. Haley is the third consecutive woman to deliver the response.

Haley began by saying that Obama’s record does not often live up to his “eloquent” words. She added that she has grown frustrated, just as the American people have grown frustrated, with “promises made and never kept.”

“(Republicans) need to accept that we’ve played a role in how and why our government is broken,” Haley said. “And then we need to fix it.”

Using her own parents who were Indian immigrants as a segue, Haley spoke about fixing the U.S.’s broken immigration system. She said the U.S. must stop illegal immigration and welcome “properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion.”

Haley also mentioned the shooting that took place last summer in the Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, South Carolina.

“There’s an important lesson in this,” Haley said. “… Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That is just not true.”

Haley added that the best thing a person can do is turn down the volume because then they can actually hear what someone else is saying.

She ended her rebuttal by listing a few of the GOP’s values, such as lowering taxes for working families, making both education and health care reforms and strengthening the military.

Published on January 13, 2016 at 12:30 am

Contact Sara: smswann@syr.edu | @saramswann