It is not everyday that the President of the United States pays a visit your city. On January 13th, Omaha had the opportunity to welcome the President Barack Obama to the University of Omaha’s Baxter Arena.
“Whenever I give a State of the Union, I want to get out of Washington and talk to people out in the country and the first place I decided to visit was Omaha,” said the President to a crowd of a nearly 11,000 people.
Omaha marked the first city on his post-State of the Union Address tour across America. Louisiana was the next stop on his tour, while he will be visiting the International Auto Show in Detroit today.
Of those in attendance to Omaha’s event, they were excited to hear what the President had to say.
“It is just an unbelievable treat for us. How it happened, I don’t know but I am sure glad it did, it is a once in a lifetime thing to be able to see a sitting president,” said Carolyn McDougle, who graduated from UNO when it still went by the name Omaha University.
Nikki Griffith, an Omaha community member, believed it was her responsibility as a citizen to participate in this historic event, as it was the first time a sitting president had visited the state.
“This is a historical moment and as a Nebraskan and it my duty to support my elected officials,” said Griffith.
Nebraska’s Democratic elected officials in attendance echoed the desire to have government work together effectively, like Douglas County Treasurer, John Ewing who believed the event was able to show off the importance of cooperation between political individuals and the public.
“I think that is the importance of the president picking Omaha and this region so that we can continue to illustrate how things work well in our community when we look to address issues that matter to the people,” said Ewing.
During the event, President Obama discussed his agenda for the last year in office and reiterated the four main questions he had addressed in the State of the Union, which included how to make economy work for all, how the spirit of innovation can solve our biggest challenges, how to prevent the U.S. from becoming a world’s police officer but maintain leadership in security, and, finally, how to have politics to reflect the best of us and not the worst.
“None of these things I just talked about can happen just by a president saying so…” said Obama, “Omaha whatever you believe, whether you are a Democrat or a Republican or you don’t believe in politics whether you supported me or didn’t, our collective future depends on your obligation as citizens.”
Congressman of Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, Brad Ashford, agreed with Obama’s desire to have politics work for the people and not against.
“You know our legacy in my generation has got to be to make our political system more civil… so let’s make sure that there is a forum for disagreement and a way forward to try to find solutions,” said Ashford.
Obama was able to give Omaha a preview of his last year in office, “and he has an agenda that he thinks he can get done in a year and I think he can too,” Ashford said.
