State Of The Union: Obama stresses USA strength

President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. But make no mistake, the breakup was already complete.

Trump, in a posting on Twitter, called the speech “boring” and lacking in substance. Last year, Obama’s speech reached 31.7 million viewers, according to Nielson, down from 52 million for his first State of the Union and 62 million for George W. Bush in 2003.

Those words excited many analysts in the traditional media, who quickly dubbed Haley the obvious front-runner in the GOP veepstakes – but that speech sounded very different to conservative commentators in her party. The development, which Obama did not mention, prompted criticism from Republicans about Obama’s hard-fought Iran nuclear deal, which the president extolled, arguing that “the world has avoided another war”. If the president sought to elevate our political discourse and seek compromise, many of those competing for the Republican nomination were clearly moving in the opposite direction. “We must resist that temptation”, said Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants.

“Tonight, I’m announcing a new national effort to get it done”, he said. Ryan has said he hopes to address the issue of poverty while speaker.

He called for lawmakers to ratify a Pacific trade pact, advance tighter gun laws and lift an embargo on Cuba.

Each carries deep political complications and thus little chance of advancing through Congress in a presidential election year.

“They call us”, he said.

Those dismal prospects have driven Obama’s moves to take executive action wherever possible actions that have inflamed congressional Republicans and created a vicious cycle that has made the prospect of bipartisan lawmaking ever more unlikely. The president – without naming names – also dismissed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s contention that the United States is already engaged in World War III. Barack Obama believes that America is an arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size.

“The president wanted to travel to a state that demonstrated his commitment of talking to people other than just his supporters”, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters traveling with the president.

That leverage is now gone.

He was the candidate of transformational change – and then the president who led during an era of shutdowns, dysfunction and the erosion of the political center.

“But they do not threaten our national existence”, said the president.

Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said Republican leaders will be under pressure from their party’s right flank to pursue hard-line conservative provisions in the spending bills come September, just as the general election campaigns begin in earnest.

“I also know Speaker Ryan has talked about his interest in tackling poverty”.

“When politicians insult Muslims”, he continued, after citing examples, “that doesn’t make us safer”.

Criticising Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, Obama said insulting Muslims hurt the United States and “betrayed” its identity.

“We also can’t try to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis, even if it’s done with the best of intentions”, he said. “I don’t want to tie the hands of the next president”.

The president’s address to both chambers of Congress and a prime-time television audience was meant to both shape his legacy and put his imprint squarely on the race to succeed him.