State of the Union Address

When President Obama first began speaking, he mentioned how "America was always destined to succeed" and how our "progress was inevitable." I thought back to the first unit of class on "What does it mean to be an American?" where one of the things that I wrote was that to be an American is to be someone who is willing to create change to benefit the country. He mentioned that the U.S. has prevailed because "we chose to move foward as one nation." I liked how he mentioned the theme of "courage" because I do believe that it is definitely an important factor in succeeding. If there is no courage, then the country will be afraid to move forward, to take that risk. There are many who believe that Obama hasn't done much for the economy, and he knows it because he addresses the devastation that still exists and that even though the worst of the recession has passed, it has caused a lot of damage. He's right to say that the whole country, all Democrats and Republicans, need to work together and put aside their differences in order to overcome these issues that the country faces today. Obama also later mentioned how the "spirit" and "hope" that our country has had in the past has led us through the difficult times, also similar to one of the essays that we read on "What it means to be an American." A lot of what he addresses is the courage and the power of the union that helped to achieve success and that, basically, the country needs to work together in order to succeed. Throughout his speech, he remains hopeful and optimistic about America's future which is what the people need to hear. That there is a plan to resolve the conflicts that the country faces today.