Dartbeat Asks: State of the Union 2013
In his fourth State of the Union address last Tuesday, President Barack Obama asked Congress to focus investment in areas including education, alternative energy research, infrastructure and manufacturing as a route to long-term economic improvement. He also focused on renewed attention to climate change, voting reform and nuclear disarmament. The impassioned rhetoric of the speech’s closing moments revealed the President’s (or his speechwriters’) personal stake in the gun control effort.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who delivered the GOP response to the address, on the other hand, chose to focus on his parched throat while I spent much of the address focusing on Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House John Boehner as they focused on staying alert.
I thought it was really important that the president mentioned the Violence Against Women Act. And I thought it was very interesting that some women in the House and the Senate didn’t stand up and clap for equal pay for equal work. —Bridget-Kate McNulty ’16
I’m just getting to the part about climate policy and a push for climate change which is a really big deal for me, and I think what he’s saying is really good. I hope that he puts it at the top of his policy agenda, but I get the feeling that it’s just going to be a lot of rhetoric. —Michael Berger ’14
I thought it was a standard State of the Union. It wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad, nothing was particularly jumping out as awesome or deplorable. It was just the president addressing people about stuff that we already knew. —Christian Opperman ’13
I was happy to hear some actual action items. When it came to issues like the economy, especially helping homeowners and investing in infrastructure, I think we’re starting to hear a few new proposals. And I was also happy to hear him take a very strong stance toward gun control and passing common sense measures. I think it’s very important that we push Congress to let these bills get to a vote. Relating to the fact that we can’t prevent every gun crime, we can at least take steps to lower the total. —Mason Cole ’13
It was totally unremarkable. Quite frankly, I wasn’t impressed, I wasn’t disappointed, I thought it was fine. —Christina Gill ’16
President Obama outlined a series of realistic initiatives that can make life easier for many Americans. I strongly support his ideas on reforms to fix our broken immigration system, our schools and ensure that our safety net is strong into the future. We also need to take a strong look at our voting system to ensure that every eligible American can cast a ballot without prior intimidation or unreasonable wait times. I am also very excited that he chose to embrace a vote on common sense measures to make our country safer by getting dangerous weapons of war off our streets and to ensure that every gun purchase was preceded by a background check. —Logan Brog ’16
I thought that President Obama addressed a lot of issues that weren’t brought up in his inaugural address, which I thought was good. I think it was definitely controversial and both sides had a lot of opinions, which I think is the point of it. —Elizabeth Wilkins ’16
Related links
Full video: The New York Times
Full transcript: The Washington Post
News analysis: The Chicago Tribune
Marco Rubio's infamous sip
Fox News on SOTU: Fox News
SNL on Fox News on SOTU: Huffington Post