President Barack Obama is applauded by Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, while delivering his State of the Union address. (PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/Associated Press)

Read about the Republican and Tea Party responses on our Politically Inclined Blog.

Just after one hour, Obama seemed to throw himself in the political middle of every major issue the United States is facing. In an effort to put America back on track, Obama addressed many problems that people believe to be standing in the way of a revamped economy.

His main message in Tuesday’s State of the Union was that America is making progress, but we need to work together to “win the future,” a phrase echoed more than half a dozen times throughout the speech in different forms.

Obama opened with what many expected: Arizona. His message that parties needed to cross lines and work together went over well with the audience, where many congressmen sat next to a member of the opposite party as a sign of unity. Left out of the Arizona message, however, was any mention of guns or gun control, perhaps the only major political issue left out of the speech.

The response for his views on energy received a mixed response across the board, especially when he mentioned stripping government support of big oil. As an alternative, he proposed giving that money to alternative energy companies saying, “Instead of investing in yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s.”

The president spent much of his time on education policy. He made several mentions of the strides being made in competitor countries such as China, and emphasized the fact that the United States is now ninth in the “proportion of young people with a college degree,”

He also pushed the need for quality teachers, even going so far as to directly call for young people watching the speech to consider becoming teachers.

His most controversial education message was a call for Congress to reconsider their previous vote against the DREAM Act. Obama stated that “it makes no sense” to send illegal college students and graduates back to their countries to compete against us.

On healthcare, Obama made it clear to Republicans that he was “eager” to work with them, but he wanted to “fix what needs fixing” and “move forward” without rehashing the two-year-long battle over current healthcare law. He urged an avoidance of a complete repeal, saying it would increase the deficit and take away necessary benefits from many Americans.

The speech was chock-full of awkward moments, including when the Republican leadership failed to come to their feet after Obama’s message to Muslim-Americans, emphasizing that they were “part of our American family.”

He also encouraged Congress to follow his lead in displaying online their meeting schedule with lobbyists, an idea that had no one on their feet. He also pledged to veto any bill that came to his desk with earmarks in it, to which very few stood, though John McCain (R-Arizona) looked very enthusiastic.