“Anyone who argues that the American economy is in decline is selling a fictional story. I couldn't be more proud of what we've accomplished." The president of the United States said it during the Italian night, Barack Obama, during his last address to the nation. The White House tenant thus rejected the criticisms of the Republicans and claimed the successes in the economic field obtained after the great crisis, adding in an interview with NBC that "America remains by far the strongest country on the planet and in this moment it is doing better than any other economy in the world".
As for theIsis, must be fought, but "it does not represent a threat to the existence of our nation", added Obama, who then cited in his State of the Union address the words of Pope Francis: “Imitating the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place. When politicians insult Muslims (the indirect reference is to Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidate, ed) this does not make us safer. It's just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world and makes it more difficult to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country."
However, the American leader said he was "quite confident that the vast majority of Americans look to those policies that feed our hopes and not our fears, which help us work together and not divide. I don't think the majority of Americans are asking for simplistic solutions and scapegoats, but I think they expect to see proposals that work for the next generation."
The President of the United States then underlined that thanks to theagreement on Iran's nuclear program another war was avoided. Obama then asked Congress, on the domestic front, to "work again this year on bipartisan priorities, such as criminal justice reform", and on the foreign front to "admit that the cold war is over" and lift the "embargo to Cuba”. Obama then promised again the closure of Guantanamo.
Meanwhile, a few hours before Obama's speech, two American ships had been stopped in the Persian Gulf by Iranian authorities. The Pentagon had confirmed that it had briefly lost contact with two small Navy vessels, but that it had received assurances from Iran that the vessels and their crews – 10 sailors including, according to some sources, a woman – they will be returned as soon as possible. US Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook explained that the two vessels in question were sailing between Kuwait and Bahrain when the incident occurred.
