Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, whose corporate empire includes Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, gave a mixed response Tuesday to President Obama’s final State of the Union address.
Where to start on Obama speech? Sounded mostly great, but totally divorced from reality. Both US and world. Sad.
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 13, 2016
“Where to start on Obama speech?” Murdoch said on Twitter. “Sounded mostly great, but totally divorced from reality. Both [from the] U.S. and world. Sad.”
Obama’s speech was mostly a vehicle for him to tout his accomplishments, including the controversial nuclear deal with Iran and improvements to the economy, though he also called for greater unity and cooperation with Republicans on issues like criminal justice reform.
Obama also addressed the campaign to replace him.
“Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction,” Obama said, a reference to the Republican presidential candidates. “What is true — and the reason that a lot of Americans feel anxious — is that the economy has been changing in profound ways, changes that started long before the Great Recession hit and haven’t let up.”
In an apparent reference to leading GOP candidate Donald Trump, Obama said, “[T]here have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears.”
