By Shonette Reed
Editorial Intern

President Barack Obama placed heavy emphasis on building up the middle class in his State of the Union address at the Capitol in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, Feb. 12th, 2013.

After acknowledging his colleagues, President Obama stated “the Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress…It is my task,” he continued, “to report the State of the Union – to improve it is the task of us all.”

Through discussing the return of  34,000 American troops from war, the increase in jobs available, increasing production of products in America instead of other countries, women on the front line in combat, and gun control, Obama emphasized building the middle class.

President Obama also stated that young people are fighting to get their first job as well as people who have been out of work so long that “nobody will give them a chance.”

Obama stated that it is possible to get ahead despite where you come from, what you look like, and who you love as long as you work hard and meet your responsibilities. He stated that there are people working at minimum wage with families and still below the poverty line. Obama’s incentive for this: raise minimum wage from $8.25 to $9.

“It is our generation’s task, then, to reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth- a rising, thriving middle class,” he stated.

President Obama, though emphasizing the middle class, stated how each American can get involved in the continual improvement of this country. Whether it be through taxation or gun control.

A big debate since the Newtown shooting has been about gun control and how that should and will be handled.

At the State of the Union, many people wore green ribbons with the American flag printed on the tips of it to show respect for the Newton, CT shooting. President Obama also acknowledged a 15 year old, Hadiya Pendleton, who was a majorette that recently performed in the Inaugural parade and was killed one week later at a park in Chicago.