Both political parties have different takes on President Obama’s final State of the Union Address and what it could mean for his legacy.
Illinois US Senator Dick Durbin calls President Obama’s address the kind given by a man tested by conflict, and served as a rebuttal to much of the rhetoric in the GOP race to succeed him.
And like the president, the Democratic Senator is downplaying the threat ISIS poses on this country’s future.
“And what the president has talked about is not giving ISIS the bragging rights many of the Republican candidates give them about how important they are in the world today," Durbin said. "We’re going to obliterate and eliminate ISIS, the president made that very clear. But arguing that this is World War 3 gives them much more credence than they deserve.”
But 15th District Congressman John Shimkus says Obama begins his last year in office with a more divided nation than when he started seven years ago.
“Leadership is really the hard work of getting people to do what you want them to do, not because you force them to do it," Shimkus said. "Not because you call them names, but you empower them, you inspire them to move in a direction. And as lofty as the president’s rhetoric is, he has shown an inability to lead this nation.”
However, the Republican says he’ll support criminal justice reform, something barely mentioned by Obama Tuesday night. Shimkus says it’s time to end mandatory
minimum prison sentences, and restore that power back to the courts.