With Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, the Obama presidency informally began its final act.
Possessing the self-assurance of a man who knows he has nothing left to prove (because, well, he kind of doesn’t), President Obama delivered a speech that was almost as much of a victory lap as it was a genuine, critical assessment of where our nation stands. As is customary with these sort of things, Obama rattled off the accomplishments, hopes and goals he wants to see realized in the coming year, in addition to discussing the issues that defined 2015. Despite looking to the future, the speech harkened back to the very thing the president ran his first campaign on: change.
Among the changes discussed were those to the economy (good!), changes concerning the ever-evolving nature of international threats (bad!), changes to how wealth is distributed in this country (we’ll believe it when we see it) and, perhaps most relevant of all, changing a broken immigration system (good luck with that, seeing as your administration is currently conducting somewhat-frightening raids to kick people out).
He even managed to sneak in a few not-so-subtle digs at “Back to the Future” villain and presidential candidate Donald Trump. Decrying politics of fear, Obama emphasized looking forward rather than trying to “restore past glory” has always been the American way. Debateable though the point may be, it’s a far more tasteful alternative than whatever product Trump is peddling.
It’s debatable how much of the swagger, confidence and charm displayed by Obama was earned. Between pitching the Trans-Pacific Partnership to an American public that doesn’t know better or crucially omitting the fraught race relations dominating today’s headlines and think pieces, Obama often omitted the unsavory aspects of what the nation is facing under his presidency. However, he did manage to acknowledge that “the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better” under his watch.
To call the Obama presidency divisive would be a gross understatement. Since taking office in 2008, the U.S. has undergone more splits in rhetoric, more polarization and more existential crises than any one country ought to grapple with in its entire existence. Whether you think Obama himself is directly responsible for this probably depends on your political persuasion.
Laying all of the blame at his feet is also tied to heightened expectations. It is difficult to separate President Barack Obama, the man, from Sen. Barack Obama, the promise. Hard though it may be to believe, we students were only high schoolers at the time of his first election (it’s even harder to believe, for upperclassmen, that some of us were in middle school). In a country drunk on optimism, as up to 53 percent of the U.S. Electoral College was in 2008, its intoxicating effects may have hit us, the impressionable, excitable youth, the hardest.
State of the Union addresses, like the faith we place in our politicians, need to be processed with reservations and critical eyes. For those who are politically vocal, ignore the outrageous social media posts on both sides and strive for the more accurate assessment that lies somewhere in between: There’s a reason the phrase “happy medium” exists.
Ignoring the bipartisan disagreements and putting aside any impressions — good, bad or indifferent — last night’s address may have left with you, we at least hope we can all agree the chanting of “O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A!” before the POTUS speaks is tragically unhip at worst and corny at best.
