1. Emily Butcher
FYS 100
Essay 1
State of the Union 2014
As President Obama began his speech for 2014 State of the Union, he was talking about
many positive things happening in the United States. He says how after twelve long years, the
war is finally ending in Iraq. All the troops are coming home. Right now, in this country,
unemployment is at an all-time low. After naming off several other accomplishments that have
happened, Mr. President says, “This is why I believe this can be a breakthrough year for
America.”
Obama does point out in this speech, there is a lot of inequality in the work place. On
average, every woman is paid less than a male doing the exact same job. There is a statistic that
says every actor gets paid ten percent more than every actress. That is an easy to pick out
problem. Also, Obama wants minimum wage to be raised to ten dollars and ten cents an hour. He
says, “No one who works full time should ever have to raise a family in poverty.” Only five
states have raised their minimum wage. Many businesses though are raising on their own. He
also points out people in the troops and/or helping with the troops should never be in poverty,
when they are helping so much support the United States of America.
One subject that was downplayed greatly in this State of the Union speech was that about
gun control. In the State of the Union speech in 2013, this issue was very heavily spoken about
for more than just a few sentences.

2. Overall, I agree strongly with most of the issues discussed in this State of the Union
speech about this year. There are many things that need to done to improve the United States, but
most of these things are being done. This can only improve things further for our country.