Obama lays out vision of future, calls on country to unite in final State of the Union

For the final time, President Barack Obama addressed the American people in his seventh State of the Union.

In just under an hour, the president spoke about the future, and what he wants the country to focus on after he leaves the White House.

“Fixing a broken immigration system, protecting our kids from gun violence….”

Obama made little mention of guns one week after he took executive action to tighten gun safety laws.

That shocked Colorado College professor and longtime student of presidential politics, Bob Loevy.

“We’ve had the shooting at the theater in Aurora, we’ve had the shooting in Colorado Springs, the last one affecting Planned Parenthood. Gun control is always a leading issue in Colorado and he gave it one sentence,” Loevy said.

Loevy, who’s seen a countless number of State of the Union addresses and thought the best part of the night came as he tried to quell Americans national security fears when talking about ISIS.

“We just have to call them who they are: Killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down and destroyed,” Obama said

“ISIS can strike anywhere like they did in San Bernardino,” Loevy said. “San Bernardino is anywhere USA.”

Loevy called Obama’s presidency historic.

“He has achieved the great goal of having the first African American president,” Loevy said. “But, when it comes to the policies he has achieved in office, they are highly controversial. It simply has not been a very successful presidency.”

In his finale, as the president closed his speech, he returned to a theme that got him to the job.

“I believe in change because I believe in you,” he said. “And that’s why I believe the state of our union is strong.”