Local reaction to State of the Union address

January 12, 2016 11:04 pm

By Samantha Fenlon

sfenlon@abc6.com

President Obama’s last State if the Union address was met with positive reaction from the group of democrats that gathered at Mirabar in Providence Tuesday night, invoking quite a few rounds of applause.

The crowd was quite pleased with what has been accomplished in the president’s last two terms.

"I think President Obama is doing exactly what he needs to tonight. He’s coming at the Republican Party with everything he has and he’s fighting for everything he’s fought for the past seven years," says democrat, Joe Lazzerini.

"I think he really hit on points that are hard to disagree with whether you are a partisan on the left or right," says Drew Milligan.

The speech was predominantly optimistic, as Obama spoke a lot about the future, focusing a large portion of his speech on the economy and defeating ISIS.

"He’s grown the economy. He’s done the things he said. He’s made some hard decisions at this point in time and that’s what he had to do. The economy is much better than it was. Gas prices are much lower than they’ve been. Things are starting to grow, but it takes time," said Richmond City Councilor, Joe Reddish.

"I think the type of approach the president is laying out is a pragmatic approach that is going to kill off ISIS and protect the people of this country," adds Lazzerini.

Republican State Representative, Doreen Costa, says she was disappointed by the speech. Costa says it felt like more of the "same old, same old," and that she felt the 10 Navy members being held should have been discussed at the start of the speech.

ABC 6 News also spoke with Providence NAACP President, Jim Vincent, who was at the State of the Union. Vincent says he thought speech was tremendous, saying the biggest take-away for him was the economy. Though, he wishes the president addressed the problem of unarmed African Americans dying at the hands of law enforcement.