The State of the Union has long been a made-for-TV spectacle, but the rise of social media has given the event increased importance. It remains one of the few annual political events that still maintains national attention.
The penultimate State of the Union President Obama will give received increased hype even before it began, as #yeswetan trended after the White House's Twitter account tweeted a photo of a tan suit.
President Obama's suiting up for the big speech. Watch at 9pm ET ? http://t.co/NKU3ndKHOu #YesWeTan pic.twitter.com/l7EJZYVk9s
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 21, 2015
Obama has previously broken the conservative grey, black blue suit tradition, though the move was not received favorably.
Obama was either talked out of the bold choice, or the White House knows how to play the Internet, but he went with a traditional suit for the speech.
Most politicians were silent during the speech, but Rand Paul's Twitter account was active, firing off a handful of pointed barbs at Obama's proposals — particularly his free community college plan.
Middle class economics? Wonder if you'll learn about that in free community college? #sotu
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) January 21, 2015
This>>> pic.twitter.com/nhokuPvZAT
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) January 21, 2015
Others, such as fellow Democrat and presumptive 2016 Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, were far more sympathetic to the Obama's message.
@BarackObama #SOTU pointed way to an economy that works for all. Now we need to step up & deliver for the middle class. #FairShot #FairShare
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 21, 2015
One of the speech's high points was Obama introducing astronaut Scott Kelly, who will soon be embarking on a mission to Mars.
"I want Americans to win the race for the kinds of discoveries that unleash new jobs," Obama said, "pushing out into the Solar System not just to visit, but to stay."
He added: "Make sure to Instagram it."
Another notable point was an unscripted needle at Republicans, saying "I've got no more campaigns to run. I know 'cause I won both of them."
As with all State of the Union addresses, this one covered a variety of economic issues. Fivethirtyeight has an point-by-point analysis of the statistics behind the economic recovery under Obama, complete with infographics.
state@dailytarheel.com
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