This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
President Obama delivered his final State of the Union address last night. Now it's just a contest about who's the happiest.
— Hatch lambasts Obama's State of the Union; Chaffetz 'just glad that was the last one' — Thomas Burr | The Salt Lake Tribune
"Washington • Utah's members of Congress said that if President Barack Obama was trying to end — or at least tone down — the partisan squabbles in Washington with Tuesday's State of the Union speech, he shouldn't have thrown so many barbs at Republicans. ..."
— Obama Celebrates Last Time He Has to Talk to These Bastards — Andy Borowitz | The New Yorker
"... 'I'll be going over some of the accomplishments of the past seven years and outlining some of the challenges for our nation that remain ahead,' the President said, in an interview taped for NBC's Today show. 'But inside, I'll be like, 'Good Lord, I never have to so much as look at these horrible people again.' ..."
— President Obama Asks Americans To Stop Being Dicks — Kaili Joy Gray | Wonkette
" ... There he goes again, hating America like how he do, by saying we're not in our last desperate throes and our enemies are not about to kill us dead. What an unpatriotic jerk, huh? ..."
[Note: Borowitz and just about everyone at Wonkette write satire. Burr just writes the truth, though it can often sound like satire.]
Also:
— Obama finds his moral voice — Dana Milbank | The Washington Post
"President Obama's final State of the Union address Tuesday night wasn't a speech to Congress. It was a sermon to the nation.
"It wasn't about policy prescriptions, really, or even about Obama's record in office. It was a speech about one man whose name the president never uttered in the House chamber — Donald Trump — and the fear the nativist billionaire is stoking across the land in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Obama's address was an extraordinary — and welcome — departure from the staid and ritualistic State of the Union format, and it showed how this president has grown in office. ..."
— Obama's Wrong. Lincoln Or Roosevelt Wouldn't Have Fixed Partisan Rancor Either — Ian Millhiser — Think Progress
"It was the most humble moment of President Obama's last State of the Union address. At the end of a speech that largely touted the president's accomplishments, Obama admitted that he regrets 'that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better,' and then he imagined that this would not been the case if a more skilled leader held the reigns of the nation. 'There's no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide,' he told the nation, 'and I guarantee I'll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office.'
"Obama's wrong. Dead wrong. There's absolutely no reason to believe that either man would have convinced the two parties to sit together around a campfire and sing 'Kumbaya.' Nor, for that matter, is there any reason to think it would have been desirable for Lincoln or Roosevelt to prioritize partisan unity. Indeed, the reason we now remember them as two of our greatest presidents is entirely because they were not afraid to push a bold agenda even though that agenda outraged many entrenched political groups. ..."
— The most powerful moment from Obama's last State of the Union — Dara Lind | Vox
" ... 'When politicians insult Muslims, whether abroad or our fellow citizens, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid is called names, that doesn't make us safer. That's not telling it like it is. It's just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country.' ..."
— President Obama's Call to America's Better Nature — New York Times Editorial
"In his final State of the Union speech, President Obama endeavored on Tuesday to lift Americans above the miasma of a brutally negative presidential campaign to reflect on what the nation has endured and achieved since he took office in the midst of a dire recession. ..."
— Obama looks back; America looks ahead — Orange County Register Editorial
" ... He concluded by saying one of the 'few regrets of my presidency' was the 'rancor' between himself and Congress. But the president himself is as much to blame for a country in ways more divided than it was for his first State of the Union address in 2009, when he said, 'What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.' ..."
— Obama presents Utopian ideals - again — Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial
— America's biggest challenge is overcoming its disunity — St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial
" ... Good luck with that, especially during an election year in which Democratic candidates are too quick to paint rosy pictures of success and Republicans are doing everything possible to make Americans believe their country is heading down the toilet. The truth is, the nation is neither as well off as the Democrats would have us believe, nor is it anywhere close to the point of calamity as the Republicans suggest. ..."
— Obama's speech falls short on religious freedom — Deseret News Editorial
" ... But many of the biggest problems won't be solved until government works to strengthen marriage and families, and to restore religious freedom to its rightful place of respect. ..."
[Wait. Was that last one satire, too? I can't always tell.]