By Kathy Wray Coleman, publisher, editor-n-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper
WASHINGTON, D.C.- President Barack Obama (pictured), the first Black president of the United States of America, once again drew upon his oratory brilliance and his political expertise during his hour long State of the Union address Tuesday night.
A constitutional lawyer, the president stressed the constitution as the bridge that unifies the country and called on the words of the great former president John F. Kennedy in emphasizing its importance.
"Fifty-one years ago John F. Kennedy declared to this chamber that the constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress," the president said. "It is my task to report the State of the Union__to improve it is the task of us all."
Obama talked about his economic policies, denounced ambitious nuclear experiments by Korea and Iran, and said that voter suppression tactics that stifle voter registration and undermine the voting process must stop.
The president discussed his immigration reform proposals and touched on gun control, a rapidly growing phenomenon that still pales as most Americans favor the policies of the popular NRA, a conservative gun toting venue that has little patience for sensitivity for gun violence that plagues largely Black major America cities in a disproportionate fashion.
Congressional Black Caucus Chairperson Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-11), a Warrensville Hts Democrat whose majority Black 11th congressional district includes parts of Cleveland and a pocket of city of Akron, said in a press statement that the group of Black federal lawmakers that she leads recognizes the urgency of the public policy issues impacting Americans that Obama favors.
"Tonight the president outlined issues on his agenda that are important to all Americans," said Fudge, one of two Black congresspersons for Ohio among the 16 congressional representatives statewide. "Finding ways to get our fiscal house in order without making devastating cuts to critical programs, restoring the opportunity for everyone to achieve the version of the American dream, addressing the pervading culture of violence in America, and protecting our fundamental right to vote are issues that require this Congress's immediate attention."
U.S. Rep Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, whose 9th congressional district stretches all the way to the largely White west side of Cleveland that former U.S. Rep Dennis Kucinich represented before he lost a fight against Kaptur last year after his then 10th congressional district merged with hers because of state legislative remapping, praised Obama's speech too.
"What a speech," said Kaptur in a press release to Cleveland Urban News.Com Tuesday night. "The president was moving as he laid out his plan to create jobs, work to finally pass comprehensive immigration reform, and tackle gun violence in America.The energy on the House floor tonight was undeniable, and I am ready to stand with our commander-in-chief and fight for what is right."
The good looking Obama, 51, and with perennial youth, gave one of the strongest State of the Union speeches of his presidency and then held a 10 pm teleconference with international media across the globe, according to an invitation to participate from the White House press office to Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read online Black newspaper.
Congressional Republicans griped that the president gave too much attention to jobs as opposed to the national debt, though the president did talk about the debt ceiling, and he stressed a rising economy and the importance of bipartisan cooperation in efforts by the Obama administration to retire the national debt.
But Obama also did as he usually does. He made the middle class the core of his speech, an effective strategy said political pundits as a recent Gallup Poll showed the president with a 52 percent approval rating going into the stretch on Tuesday for his State of the Union pitch, an approval rating that did not change afterwards.
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