President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union address on Jan. 12, 2015. For Democrats, the speech was a celebration of Barack Obama’s last eight years in the White House and a good opportunity to look back on everything that Obama has done. For Republicans, the speech failed to address the issues facing the nation currently. For instance, many GOP presidential candidates called out Obama for saying that the Iran Nuclear deal was a good decision when ten American sailors were taken into Iranian custody on the same day of Obama’s speech.

Junior Will Tiller said, “I did not enjoy the speech. I thought he failed to acknowledge that ISIS is a major threat to the national security of our country. I respect the fact that Obama is America’s first African American president, but I’ll be honest, I do not think he has done a good job as our commander-in-chief.”

Senior Ricky Macke said, “He obviously focused on many of the issues he has emphasized throughout his administration that he thought worked well in an attempt to bolster the legacy of his administration and the eventual campaign of the Democratic nominee. While some of the claims he made seemed like a reach, I really admired the fact that he admitted the increased tensions between the parties and that he pledged to work harder on bringing them together. As a whole, regardless of whether his claims were factually accurate or not, the address seemed to be about Obama boasting how great his presidency has been and how people should vote for the next Democratic presidential nominee.”