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President Obama concluded his final State of the Union address on Tuesday night with an impassioned call for real changes in the nuts and bolts of American politics.

The president, who portrayed his push to “fix our politics” as the most important part of his speech, urged a switch to nonpartisan redistricting, advocated a decrease in the influence of campaign money, and asked for measures to ease voting, rather than make it more difficult through new identification laws and other requirements.

“If we want a better politics, it’s not enough to just change a congressman or a senator or even a president,” he said as the speech wound down. “We have to change the system to reflect our better selves.”

While Democrats cheered, most Republicans sat quietly and seemed especially cool to the president’s discussion of the need for neutral drawing of congressional district lines, given that the House Republican majority has benefited from partisan redistricting.

These are the types of political changes that often get discussed and go nowhere, a fact that the president acknowledged. But he also said he intended to campaign for them both in the remaining months of his tenure and after he leaves office — a presidential push that could provide some momentum for the initiatives.

