By John Gregory/Illinois Radio Network
WASHINGTON – Reaction to Barack President Obama’s final State of the Union address is mostly split along party lines among Illinois’ congressional delegation.
A particular section of the speech being criticized by Republicans is the portion dealing with ISIS, where Obama said the organization doesn’t threaten the “national existence” of the United States.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Colleen’s interview with U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis on WJBC.
“We just need to call them what they are – killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed,” Obama said.
U.S. Rep. Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro) took issue both with the tone and substance of Obama’s ISIS remarks.
“(There’s) still no plan to deal with Islamic terrorism, which is what they should be called and what they actually are,” Bost said.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) thought the ISIS remarks in the speech were meant to counter comments from the Republican presidential field.
“What the President has talked about is not giving ISIS the bragging rights that many of the Republican candidates want to give them about how important they are in the world today,” Durbin said.
The issue of gun violence was notably only mentioned once. Durbin said that was by design after Obama issued his executive orders on guns last week.
“He said ‘I wanted to raise this issue separately about my initiative so it just isn’t lost in a long litany of issues in the State of the Union,’” Durbin said.
U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger said the president is trying to force his agenda on the American people by bypassing Congress.
“The President would effectively be tossing out the Constitution and tossing out the very principles upon which this nation was founded upon,” Kinzinger said in a statement.
There was some applause coming from Illinois Republicans during certain parts of the address. U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) could be seen standing in support after Obama mentioned the country’s “spirit of innovation.”
U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis mentioned he applauded Obama’s remarks about aiming to find a cure for cancer.
Eric Stock contributed to this report.
