On Tuesday night, President Obama gave the annual State of the Union Address. Following the address, there have been mixed opinions about it, from both the Republican and Democratic parties. One of Obamas primary themes throughout his speech was that he has only two more years in office, and has no more elections to run. Because of this, Obama intends to do whatever he feels is best for the country, since he doesn't need to worry about focusing on what needs to be done to get votes and higher approval ratings from everyone. I think this is a very smart thing for Obama today, and I also think that this is very good for the United States, because instead of our President worrying about approval ratings and politics, his main focus will be doing what he thinks is best for everyone in this country.

Another very important part of Obamas State of the Union, was in the speech he said the word "transgender," making him the first president to say the word during any high profile or formal speech. Many members from the LGBT community are speaking out in support of the president, and have stated that his acknowledgment of this group has helped to force the rest of the country to acknowledge this community of people. I think that his just goes to show not only what an accepting person President Obama is, but it also shows how much this country has progressed in recent years, and many people of different groups are becoming more and more accepted. It is also important that Obama has acknowledged them because it may force other people that me be closed minded, to become more open minded and accepting of different types of people. Overall, this can be considered a big step towards greater acceptance equality throughout this country, and hopefully the rest of the world.

Of course, not everyone has positive things to say about this years State of the Union. One of the major criticisms of the Presidents speech, is his failure to attempt to unify himself with the Republican majority Congress, in attempt to try to agree with the Republicans in some things. Following several months of disagreement between the President and the Republican Congress, not much as been accomplished with these two groups having very different goals and policies. However, this is exactly the reason that our government was created the way that it was, and I think it is very important for the President and Congress to find a way to work together, and find compromises on some of the important issues that they have so far failed to do.