President Obama's Last SOTU Speech

The last State of the Union speech of his \historic presidency happened last night in Washington DC, and President Barack Obama is getting rave reviews for it.

Here it is for those of you who missed it.

President Obama's Last SOTU Speech Tonight

The reality that 2016 is not only an election year, but President Obama's last as our president will become crystal clear at  8 PM CST when he gives his final State of the Union Address to a join session of Congress and what is sure to be a large television audience.

President Obama gave a preview of his upcoming speech in a video in which he stated he wanted to focus "not just the remarkable progress we've made, not just what I want to get done in the year ahead, but what we need to do together in the years to come:  The big things that will guarantee an even stronger, better, more prosperous America for our kids.  That's what's on my mind."

What's on our mind is the upcoming November 8 presidential election and coming to grips with the fact that on January 17, 2017 you and your family will be leaving the White House.  I'm definitely not ready to think about that near future event.

Well, it's still January, and we still have him, the FLOTUS and the First Family living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. until then.

President Obama Says The 'T' Word In His 2015 SOTU Speech!

"That’s why we defend free speech, and advocate for political prisoners, and condemn the persecution of women, or religious minorities, or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender."
--President Barack Obama, January 20, 2015

The 2015 State of the Union speech was broadcast to our nation earlier tonight.

While there was a lot to like in President Obama's speech, one of the things that has electrified Trans Nation was the fact that he made a little history by mentioning us in it.

While cynics will say that the POTUS uttering the word 'transgender' in the State of the Union speech won't magically change the lives of trans people in the United States, it still matters to every trans person inside the borders of this country.  

What it does do is act as a shot of inspirational self esteem to a downtrodden and maligned community that damned sure can use it.  At a time when the Religious Right and the conservative movement is increasingly attacking us with falsehoods and lies, it makes us feel included in the life of this country.

We'll also be standing a little bit taller in the morning with wider smiles on our faces. 

It's wonderful when the leader we trans peeps elected with our votes twice in 2008 and 2012 recognizes us with the nation's and the world's television cameras on him.

It says to us trans folks, we matter.   It also mattered that our trans kids got to hear their president say 'transgender' tonight along with their trans elders.
 
Yeah, we in Trans America know we have a lot of work ahead of us until trans human rights are a reality across this nation.  But hey, let us trans peeps revel in our historic moment.

This is one State of the Union speech we'll never forget.

The SOTU Speech I'd Love To See The POTUS Give

The State of the Union speech is happening later tonight, and I'll be paying attention like all of us political junkies and the pundit class will be.

President Obama will steer this one right now the middle and try his best to stay with the 'No Drama Obama' image despite the massive hate the Teapublicans and their conservafool acolytes have hurled his way. 

But just once I would like to see him give a SOTU speech in which he went Chicago Southside on their behinds.   How would that sound?

***

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, fellow citizens: 

I have had it with trying to be nice to these Teapublican jerks, and I'm going to go Southside on them in this State of the Union Address and call some folks out.

The State of Our Union is strong but divided due to these racist GOP fools doing everything possible to get back at me for whipping Mitt Romney's behind in the 2012 election cycle.  

They hate me so much they were willing to destroy the economy of the United States and the world just to deny me ANY success by following Sen. Ted Cruz's lead and shut the federal government down.  These mitches are so filled with hatred that they won't pass the Jobs Bill this country needs, immigration reform, reasonable gun regulation, increasing the minimum wage, rebuilding infrastructure, passing ENDA or do anything else that will generate good jobs at good wages because it's what I want to see done and they are beholden to the Koch Brothers and their 1% corporate paymasters. 

Something else I want to see done is fix the problem with the Voting Rights Act tossed into our laps due to another jacked up Supreme Court decision.  But you know the Republicans don't want that to happen because they know you'll with vote their behinds out of office this November

My fellow Americans, I know you want and would like to see bipartisanship bloom like the cherry blossoms inside the Beltway, but I can't keep offering my hand to people who instead of shaking it and doing what's best for the country and moving us forward together, take their hand instead to slap me across the face with it, spit in my face when they are done, and then laughably accuse me in their propaganda outlets of not wanting to work with them. 

Well, that's over.  They want to lie and accuse me of being a Chicago politician, well, they are about to see it live and in living color in 2014.   If they won't act to move this country forward in a bipartisan way, then I'll do it my damned self.   I'll use my executive authority to the full extent constitutionally permissible to move America forward.   There's more than one way to beat an obstructionist Republican, and I'm going to prove that to you.

And as I handle my business inside Washington DC, I ask you to do your part by putting pressure on your congressmembers and senators to act on the legislation already passed by the Democratic Senate that is bottled up in the House because Speaker Boehner refuses to bring it to a vote.

If Speaker Boehner continues his recalcitrant ways through the rest of this year, then you get the opportunity on November 4 to vote him and the Republicans out of power on November 4 so that we can return the speaker's gavel to someone who will pass the legislation we need to move this country forward in Nancy Pelosi.

It's past time to end the war in Afghanistan and bring our troops home.   And when we do so, we give them everything we promised them in terms and they signed up to go into the military for in terms restoring all the GI Bill funding.   They earned it fighting to defend our freedoms, we promised that money to them, and we need to make good on that promise. 

And speaking of our military, it is past time to allow transgender Americans to opportunity to openly serve their country.  The time has come to allow patriotic transgender Americans the chance to openly serve their country like anyone else inside the borders of this nation we all love.   It is also time for our military to allow those transpeople who are hiding their true selves in order to stay in military service to be able to come out and openly serve our country.   Just as was done with DADT, we do so after consultation with our military leaders to expeditiously come up with the best practices, policies and ways to integrate trans Americans into the greatest armed forces in the world.    

We also need to act decisively to end the horrific situation that our daughters in uniform face when it comes to sexual assaults going unpunished.   American women sign up to serve our country, not  face sexual harassment and assault and have their superior officers turn a blind eye to it when they seek justice for what happened to them.   If you are not willing to act inside the military justice system to fix the problem, then we'll need to give our women warriors other options if their superior offices are thwarting prosecution of those crimes.

I've already alluded to it with transgender Americans in the militray, but if we are are going to lead the way in fighting for the human rights of LGBT people people around th world, we have to lead by example here at home.    It is past time that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans be afforded first class citizenship in the United States of America.  It is ridiculous that ENDA has not been passed, that many states still refuse to allow people to marry the person they love for specious reasons or use their faith as a fig leaf to cover their bigotry and prejudice. 

It is inexcusable that transgender people are facing the levels of hate violence they do.  Transpeople should have to hide because they fear that what happened to Islan Nettles will happen to them.   They should have to jump through hoops just to get identification that matches who they are now or if they are immigrants working hard to build new lives for themselves after fleeing anti transgender oppression in their birth nations being deported back to them.. You are first class human beings who deserve first class citizenship in our nation, and it's past time that happened. 

And why should we do all this?   We are approaching 50 years since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed and signed into law by president Lyndon Baines Johnson.  I , my children and yours are the beneficiary of the changes in American society that the Civil Rights Act and other subsequent groundbreaking legislation engendered..

And let us keep building together a more perfect union.  This country works best when we are also contributing our ideas, talents, sweat equity and elbow grease into putting in the work to make as Barbara Jordan said. an America as good as its promise. 

We should have as our guiding North Star striving to make an America better than its promise.   Let's start that wok tonight as we leave this chamber.  

God bless you my fellow Americans, and God bless the United States of America.