“Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States.” These famous eight words were uttered by the sergeant-at-arms, Paul Irving, to begin the 2013 State of the Union address last week.

The mood wasn’t positive for all, however, after the President began speaking. You could almost see the horror in Speaker John Boehner’s eyes, as the President read aloud his plans for the coming year. The Republican members in the house refused to even acknowledge the most logical issues. This made it even more prevalent how truly divided our country is.

Are we disagreeing because we don’t support the idea or are we disagreeing because we are in opposing parties?

Such issues that are proven, like global warming by scientists, or the countless lives lost in the United States by not implementing an assault weapons ban or, even the many lives saved in other countries, like Japan and England, by allowing virtually no guns at all.

President Obama is working with Vice President Joe Biden and members of Congress, to update the second amendment (rather than completely abolishing it), in order to make this country a safer place.

The President continues to attempt to pass bills that will help the economy, but they certainly won’t pass through a divided house.

Even in this political climate, Obama has created 6 million jobs. He’s proven that he knows what he is doing by continuing to bring outsourced jobs back to the United States, and by taking on our generation’s task of “bringing back” and igniting a “rising and thriving middle class”.

Obama shared his ideas on education with his college scorecard that came out last Tuesday, showing families how to get the best bang for their buck when they send their children to college. He is also aiming to make preschool accessible to all children, no matter what their family’s financial status is.

The most emotional moment of the night came at the end of the speech, as the President singled out important individuals.

One teenager, who performed at his inauguration, but returned home to Chicago and was killed by gunshot, was one of those acknowledged.

The President went on to say “Gabby Gifford’s deserves a vote, the families of Newtown deserve a vote, the families of Aurora deserve a vote, the families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence, they deserve a simple vote.”

Some may not agree with Obama’s Economic policies, or how he deals with the Middle East.

But he is right, these people deserve a simple vote.