Immigrant (Reform) Song 

Obama told us that the time has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform. To Obama, reform means: stronger border security, for undocumented immigrants to get at “the back of the line” behind documented ones, and a pathway to citizenship that involves background checks, paying taxes, a “meaningful penalty” for illegal immigration, and most controversially, learning English. There wasn’t any expansion on that last point, and so I’m not sure what exactly the Obama administration imagines that looking like, but it’s interesting to note that in counterpoint, Marco Rubio delivered his response to the State of the Union in both English and Spanish.

Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves

As you may recall from the election, the Republican party has been Not So Great on the Lady Issues. (In fact, Marco Rubio, the Republican wunderkind who was chosen to respond to Obama’s address, went ahead and voted against the Violence Against Women Act just this week!) So women’s support was a big deal for Obama in getting elected, and I think he wants to continue to ride that wave. He reminded us about the Paycheck Fairness Act he got passed, and that his own vice president was involved in the original Violence Against Women Act. He talked about a world in which women can live free from discrimination in the workplace and from domestic violence, but weirdly began that sentence with “our wives, mothers, and daughters,” sort of implying that he was talking only to men and not, you know, a nation that comprises equal numbers of men and women? Noticeably absent from this section of the speech: reproductive rights/support of Planned Parenthood and/or anything about sexual assault.

Life in Wartime

Obama reminded us that since 9/11, Al Qaeda is now “a shadow of its former self,” and that the American armed forces in Afghanistan are now in a position to play a “support role.” He announced that another 34,000 servicemembers will come home from Afghanistan this year, and that the goal is ultimately a “unified and sovereign Afghanistan.” Although he says that US counterterrorism efforts will continue,

…to meet this threat, we don’t need to send tens of thousands of our sons and daughters abroad or occupy other nations. Instead, we’ll need to help countries like Yemen, Libya, and Somalia provide for their own security and help allies who take the fight to terrorists, as we have in Mali.

Interestingly, he also promised that:

…I will continue to engage Congress to ensure not only that our targeting, detention and prosecution of terrorists remains consistent with our laws and system of checks and balances, but that our efforts are even more transparent to the American people and to the world.

This seems to be a gesture at conspicuously still-open Guantánamo, without actually addressing the issue — I don’t feel like most people’s concerns with Guantánamo are really about a lack of transparency, although that’s certainly a factor. In terms of North Korea, Obama declared that he plans to stand by America’s allies, build our own missile defense system, and “take firm action” in response to future threats. Also, Iran should agree to a diplomatic solution. We’ll put pressure on Syria to stop killing its own citizens, and “stand steadfast” with Israel.

Obama also promised that America would work at bracing itself against cyberattacks, and announced that he’s signed an executive order which will “strengthen our cyber defenses by increasing information-sharing and developing standards to protect our national security, our jobs, and our privacy.” This part sounded sort of like a bad cyberthriller to me but probably he’s right and I’m dumb.

In recognizing and thanking those who serve in the armed forces, Obama also gave the only shoutout to queers of the night, when he said “We will ensure equal treatment for all service members, and equal benefits for their families, gay and straight.” He also talked about “investing in world-class care, including mental health care” for returning veterans, which is a pretty big deal.

Rocking the Vote

Did you vote in this election? Was it a frustrating, lengthy, and confusing process? Obama announced he wants to introduce reforms that will change that in the future. He’s created a nonpartisan commission to improve the voting experience, using two experts (one from his campaign and one from Romney’s) to head the team. Unfortunately it’s not clear whether improving the voting experience means creating consequences for things like voter disenfranchisement, voter intimidation, and straight-up lying to voters. Hopefully!

Gun Reform

In what was by far the most emotional portion of the evening, Obama talked about Hadiya Pendleton, who was just shot and killed in Chicago this month. He also called out to survivors and families of Newtown, Aurora, Oak Creek, Tucson, and Blacksburg, many of whom were invited to be in the audience, along with Gabby Giffords. He mentioned several proposals, like background checks, that are possibilities and argued that while “our actions will not prevent every senseless act of violence in this country,” we have to “uphold our ideals through the hard, often frustrating, but absolutely necessary work of self-government,” which is actually a really nice and pretty moving statement. He compared the effort to reduce gun violence with the efforts of heroines Menchu Sanchez and Desiline Victor to save infants during Sandy and vote after waiting for six hours, respectively.

Desiline Victor

Items which did not merit any mention at all included drones and DOMA.

Interestingly, Obama didn’t end on the note of us all being Americans, which often seems like something of a no-brainer. Instead, he said that we’re all citizens, something that “captures the enduring idea that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations; that our rights are wrapped up in the rights of others; and that well into our third century as a nation, it remains the task of us all, as citizens of these United States, to be the authors of the next great chapter in our American story.” It’s a beautiful and honest sentiment. It’s worth remembering that one of our obligations to each other and ourselves as citizens is awareness of and a critical eye towards our governing bodies, so it falls to all of us to think about and react to the things said in this address and by our government over the coming year. Until the State of the Union 2014!

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