Barack Obama Becomes 4th President To Visit All 50 States
Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton — those are the only three presidents that visited all 50 states while acting as President of the United States until now. Barack Obama officially joins this short list, as he recently touched down in South Dakota. While it took him approximately six and a half years to accomplish the feat, it truly was a special event to behold had you been one of the lucky individuals in the crowd when Obama touched down in the 50th State. In his commencement speech for South Dakota’s Lake Area Technical Institute, Obama said the following:
“I am thrilled to be here…I have now been to all 50 states as president and I was saving the best for last. To the other 49, I hope you take no offence.”
Obama made the journey not just to solidify his status as an extremely well-traveled President, but to push forward his agenda for free technical college education for all Americans. In his speech, he noted that, “…as a country we can’t afford to let any striving American be priced out of the education they need to get ahead.” In addition, President Obama noted that community college education should be available to everyone, just like a K-12 education is, because schools play a pivotal role in preparing students for the advanced jobs that will exist in the future.
