Your task is to extract the thesis of an opinionated news article by selecting some of its text segments. The thesis is a summarization of what the author wants to persuade the reader of. Your answer should consist of segments of the given text. Note that you are not allowed to combine different sentences.

Example Input: President Obama, here's how you build a legacy. Two years from now, the country will be on the verge of inaugurating the 45th president of the United States . The presidency of Barack Obama will be over , and to the joy and relief of many Americans, there will be a new beginning . To quote President Obama's 2008 campaign slogan "Hope and Change" will be the order of the day . Certainly "change" will come with the new occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue . The certainty of who that man or woman will be two years from now is unknown . It will depend on who can survive the already begun long campaign that will easily be the most expensive in history . Immediately after the oath of Office is taken at noon on January 20th, 2017 on the West Portal of the Capitol, the pictures on the walls of the White House and the personal artifacts of Barack Obama and his family will be removed . The legacy left behind and the permanent White House staff will stay on awaiting the new leader of the free world . "Hope" is always in the minds of Americans along with good will for any new president . Much of that good will and almost all of the "hope," that this president could or would be different, is gone . With a little more than half of the president's second term remaining, judgments have been made and speculation is rampant that the White House decisions are now being made is to define that legacy . His expected veto decision on the Keystone pipeline is to appease the environmentalists . His executive orders allowing millions of illegals to stay in the country rather than be deported is also viewed as a pandering to the fastest growing voting group . His alteration by executive order creating changes in his health care law have enraged members of Congress that have the real power to change laws . His attempt to close Guantanamo prison over the objections of Congress is another critical debate . But the biggest and most long lasting mistake maybe his withdrawal of ground troops from both Iraq and Afghanistan . And one he has not yet made may be more severe and dangerous to world peace -- his headlong rush toward an attempt to get a nuclear deal with Iran . A deal that, in spite of all the reassurances from Secretary of State John Kerry, will enable Iran to make nuclear weapons . The mainstream media is feeding into this legacy debate . One of the latest examples, The New York magazine cover story of January 11, called the "Obama History Project." The magazine asked 53 historians to weigh in on Barack Obama's legacy and how they think he will be measured 20 years from now . Historians play a vital role in measuring presidents . Usually their histories are written decades after the fact when they can go back and review documents and gather facts and see the results of presidential actions from afar and in a cold dissected view . Historians have certainly altered the view of many former presidents and have actually restored the reputations of a few . Harry Truman being a perfect example . A man greatly respected today , Truman left office with a tattered reputation, was very unpopular with the public, and could not possibly been reelected when he left office in 1952 . Today, he is ranked among the top 10 presidents by most presidential scholars . A review of Eisenhower is going on now and his marks are high . Lyndon Johnson and George Herbert Walker Bush are getting favorable reviews by the historians after being out of office for decades . I am a partisan Republican who has worked in the administrations of three presidents and served two tours of duty at the highest level of Ronald Reagan's White House . As an American and as the father of a young college-aged daughter, I don't want any president to fail . I want this country to be led by the very best people we can find . It isn't always so . Every president, or people on his staff are looking out for his legacy . But the boss I worked for, President Reagan, operated under a different theory . One day we were returning from a trip out somewhere in the country . We were flying aboard Marine One, the presidential helicopter, across Washington, after leaving Air Force One at Andrews Air Base . The president was very tired and as we landed on the South Lawn, he looked up at pictures of his ranch displayed on the walls of the chopper . He said, pointing to the ranch pictures,"I wish we were landing there!" Not knowing what to say to the leader of the free world who obviously didn't want to go back to work . I said,"Mr  President, it will all be worthwhile. History will be very kind to you someday." He chuckled and said right back."Ed, I don't care about history. I am going to be dead and gone and they will distort it anyways. What I care about is those great young people we saw out there today and making sure they have the same opportunities we all had." He turned to his closest friend, also sitting there, Senator Paul Laxalt (R.-Nev .). He said Paul's father was a Basque immigrant sheepherder and his mother a hotel cook . He turned to me and said:"Your dad was shipyard worker and my own father was a travelling shoe salesman. We are all here because this great country gave us opportunities. We have to make sure that's what we leave behind and those kids out there get those same opportunities. Now let's get back in there and go to work!" Ronald Reagan loved this country and was proud to be the leader of the greatest group of people in the world . President Obama, that's how you build a legacy! President Obama's life story is one of inspiration . To come from a broken home, abandoned by his father as an infant, to be raised by grandparents from the Midwest and to achieve, as a black man, the highest office in the land is inspirational . Unfortunately, he has not been an inspirational president . Mr  Obama, let me speak to you directly . Right now your legacy is that your party suffered historic losses across the country at every level in 2014 . Your health care plan will cost enormous sums above your estimates and even those who didn't have health insurance and now do, can't get health care . The Dodd-Frank bill has cost American business billions of dollars and thousands of lawyers are working around the clock to deal with the implementation of it . You pulled our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan before the job was done . And your lack of strength as a leader has made the strongest nation in the world look weak and vulnerable . You have the greatest political tin ear I've ever seen in a president . Someone should have told you to take your place at the front of the line with other world leaders in Sunday's million person march in Paris, against worldwide terrorism . Or you should have known yourself . Yes , Mr  President, they are terrorists and they hate everything we stand for . You want a legacy? Work with the Congress the American people chose and get something done!
Example Output: Two years from now, the country will be on the verge of inaugurating the 45th president of the United States The presidency of Barack Obama will be over

Example Input: Obama should show black lives matter by hosting relatives of those killed by cops at his State of the Union. Tuesday at President Obama's penultimate State of the Union address , when Obama points for effect at someone sitting with the First Lady as her guest , every single guest around her should be a family member of someone killed by a police officer . I want to see Michelle Obama sandwiched between Erica Garner - whose father, Eric Garner, was killed by an NYPD officer using an illegal chokehold- and Tamir Rice's 14-year-old sister , who was tackled and shackled by police when trying to help her dying 12-year-old brother . I want to see Leslie McSpadden, Michael Brown's mother there tonight, and a relative of Tasha Thomas, John Crawford's now-deceased girlfriend , who was interrogated by the same police department who'd just killed the father of her children for shopping at Wal Mart . Let America look upon the elder Michael Brown, Kadiatou Diallo (Amadou Diallo's mother), Constance Malcolm (Ramarley Graham's mother), Sylvia Palmer (Akai Gurley's mother) or any of the thousands of relatives of the 1,100 or so Americans killed by police in 2014 . This of course will never happen , but it's what I want . President Obama should use the political theatre of his "Skutniks"- the humans used to give a face to presidential pet problems since Ronald Reagan invited Lenny Skutnik to the State of the Union in 1982 - to focus American's attention squarely on the loss of human life when cops kill black civilians . If President Obama wants us to believe that he thinks black life matters , it's not enough for him to form a task force on 21 century policing : task forces and commissions are where serious reforms go to be forgotten . One police shooting victim's family member up in his box with a nice cop like Richmond, California Police Chief Chris Magnus(who famously held up a #BlackLivesMatters sign) is not enough . We don't need a black kid-white cop hug moment . When the President paired up a black victim of racism with kindly white folks at his "beer summit" in 2009 it was a disaster - at best a distraction, and at worst a prevarication that racism is anecdotal and not systematic . If President Obama is serious about showing black and brown life matters in this country - he's made some progress showing this overseas by winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, though not so much by employing drone warfare in Pakistan - he needs to go big at the State of the Union . He's taken on black lives falling victim to gun violence at his annual address before by inviting the parents of Hidaya Pendleton, a black Chicago teenager who was killed in 2013 shortly after performing at Obama's second inaugural . But as Commander in Chief, with all those black folks at his side, Obama could challenge the mortal violence the state itself wages against its citizens through the local police and say to them: Enough . Ronald Reagan, whom Barack Obama uses as an example for how to sell himself as president, used Lenny Skutnik as an example of how"we saw again the spirit of American heroism at its finest," after Skutnik jumped into icy water of the Potomac River to help the drowning after a plane crash . But are not the kin of those killed by police violence also displaying "American heroism at its finest" in helping those who can't breathe? It is women like Tawanda Jones who are creating a more perfect union when she boldly speaks out about her brother being killed by police - even when dissent is under attack and Fox News broadcasts lies about her . When Erica Garner visits the site where two NYPD cops were killed to offer her condolences, she is saving the union . Every time a woman like Michael Brown's mother calls for non-violence - when she could instead, understandably, lash out with a fraction of the hatred which killed her son- she is keeping the nation from ripping itself apart and acting with the kind of American heroism that presidents should applaud loudly and publicly . Skutnik helped save one woman . The black women who bury their sons and husbands and seek to change the systems that caused their deaths may save countless of lives - and maybe even the soul of the nation . The Black Lives Matters movement is a testament that, once again, black Americans are being called upon to force all Americans to examine our addiction to the violence and militarism that oppresses everyone in different ways . Our first black president, riding an 18 month approval rating high, could choose to do some of that himself tonight, by acknowledging those left behind when black lives are ended by the state and who still choose to use their grief to effect positive change .
Example Output: President Obama should use the political theatre of his "Skutniks"- the humans used to give a face to presidential pet problems since Ronald Reagan invited Lenny Skutnik to the State of the Union in 1982 - to focus American's attention squarely on the loss of human life President Obama is serious about showing black and brown life matters in this country

Example Input: Obama's State of the Union fantasy world: We need a real national security strategy, VA reform. Here's a prediction: expect a narrative to emerge in certain media outlets in the coming days that Tuesday night's State of the Union speech was a grand return to form for President Obama . The elite, east-coast intelligencia line will be that the beleaguered lame duck president--facing a hostile, conservative Congress--regained his momentum with renewed energy and purpose . How Obama Got His Groove Back , Washington- style . Groove aside , the fact remains that Obama's next-to-last State of the Union address did not substantially address two of the most pressing issues currently facing our nation and that matter most to its military veterans: the lack of a clear United States national security strategy-- to include the crisis facing our military-- and the inability of the VA bureaucracy care to deliver timely health care to millions of our veterans . But you wouldn't know it by listening to Tuesday night's State of the Union address . President Obama is living in a fantasy world . The president says that we're "stopping ISIL's advance." But in reality, his campaign of airstrikes have not been successful , and ISIS controls more territory in Iraq and Syria today than ever before . He also boldly claimed that "we're slashing the backlog that had too many veterans waiting years to get the benefits they need," but this statement too just doesn't match up with reality . Today, nearly 250,000 veterans are still stuck in the VA claims backlog and another 290,000 languish in the appeals process . Is that still "too many," Mr  President? Unfortunate events will likely force the president's attention to these issues in 2015 -- just like ISIS did in Iraq and Phoenix did for the VA in 2014 . However ,  President Obama could be proactive and get ahead of these issues by pursuing the following four agenda items :. 1 \. Articulate a real national security strategy . The president's plan for"leading from behind"-- and that national security and foreign policy boils down to "don't do stupid stuff"-- is no substitute for a real strategy, as deteriorating situations in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine and elsewhere prove . Likewise, denying the nature of the enemy we face("ISIS is not Islamic") only muddies the water further , emboldening our enemies and confusing our allies . President Obama also touted ending the 14 year-long war in Afghanistan , but "ending" is different than"winning." His telegraphed withdrawals have pulled us out of conflicts before they're resolved , creating power vacuums in Iraq- and soon in Afghanistan- that leave America more vulnerable . And incredibly, for the first time since 9/11, the president failed to even mention the Taliban or Al Qaeda  - both of which are far from "on the run" as he proclaimed in 2012 and are advancing and actively challenging the West . 2 \. Get serious about fixing defense spending . Instead of cutting fat, the president's ill-conceived defense budget sequester has slashed into the muscle of our military force . The administration should strive to replace defense sequestration, by implementing serious and commensurate acquisitions and compensation reforms . Reforming these areas will reduce Pentagon budgetary pressures caused by massive weapons system cost-overruns and exploding personnel costs, allowing for a more strategic allocation of war-fighting resources . In order to live within a fiscally responsible reality, and most importantly maintain the world's most capable military, the administration and Congress must get serious about real DoD spending reform . His address last night didn't even mention sequestration . 3 \. Develop and implement a plan to tackle the national debt . Respected military leaders like Marine General James Mattis, Admiral Mike Mullen, and many others recognize that the biggest long-term threat to our national security is our massive national debt . At more than $18 trillion and growing, the debt is on track to double under President Obama . It is absolutely vital to the fiscal, economic, and military strength of our country that we have a serious plan to get our debt under control through reductions in spending and significant reforms across the government . 4 \. Implement more accountability and choice at the VA . The VA reforms passed by Congress last year were a good first step, but will not address the deeper, systemic culture problems at VA . In the next Congress, the president should champion even deeper reforms at VA to bring accountability for poor performing employees throughout the department and to expand health care options for veterans outside the VA system . These basic principles would not only address a campaign promise the president has failed to deliver on("fixing the VA") but would show that he is finally serious about improving veterans' access to the quality health care they earned . What the president misses, and even defies, in his latest list of proposals is that Americans don't think government isn't doing enough . They think government does too much, that most of what it does, it does poorly , and that it doesn't attend to the issues that matter to them . Focusing on the four agenda items above would send a message that the president is finally serious about governing in his last two years in office . It's probably too much to ask for Obama to change his approach at this stage in his presidency -- but it's essential if he wants to avoid a legacy of division, defiance and neglect . And if the president continues on his current course? Well, the items listed above will become part of a compelling agenda for his potential successors as they take to the campaign trail for 2016 .
Example Output:
The elite, east-coast intelligencia line will be that the beleaguered lame duck president--facing a hostile, conservative Congress--regained his momentum with renewed energy and purpose