State of the Union address draws negative responses from citizens, politicians

The State of the Union address given by President Barack Obama last night to the population of the United States stressed the importance of the parties working together and the need for a solution to the looming budget cuts that will happen across the board of American government automatically in about three weeks.

As Obama’s first State of the Union address of his second term, the focus was mostly on how Congress, particularly Republicans, should put Americans’ best interests before party. The issues Obama mentioned are on his agenda to tackle for his second term include solving unemployment and underemployment, raising the minimum wage, immigration reform and gun control.

Now that the State of the Union address has had some time to settle with Americans, political analysts have speculated that Obama suggested too many policy change goals, which may overwhelm citizens and be received poorly by them.

As for the State of the Union address in general, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia refuses to attend and has avoided the event for the past 16 years. Why?

Well, this year he was attending a talk sponsored by the Smithsonian Associates, during which he explained, “[The State of the Union address] has turned into a childish spectacle. I don’t want to be there to lend dignity to it.”

Scalia elaborated that the justices in attendance look to the Chief Justice to determine when to clap and when not to clap and that the typical form to follow involves clapping when something patriotic is said and not clapping when something anyone can argue over is said.

As far as reaction from the general public regarding the State of the Union address, or at least the Internet population, goes, USA Today reported after asking readers to pick a word that best described the true state of the Union, the most popular word was “screwed.”