Socialist Seattle councilmember Kshama Sawant responds to State of the Union

While a Republican congressman might have called President Barack Obama “a Socialist” while waiting for the State of the Union to start, an actual Socialist provided her response to the annual speech.

In her response to the State of the Union speech, Socialist Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant ripped into both parties.

“These four decades, with four republican presidents and three democratic presidents – four decades that show that neither party is capable of solving these problems,” said Sawant. “That they fundamentally represent the same interests: the interests of the super wealthy and the corporations.”

Sawant called for the country to take a break from capitalism. She also said the president betrayed the hopes of tens of millions of people who voted for him.

The councilmember also spoke with KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz following her State of the Union comments and continued to highlight the importance of the campaign to raise the minimum wage.

“The highlight here is that we should continue building movements in order to win $15 an hour here in Seattle and also in other cities in the nation.”

MyNorthwest.com’s Alyssa Kleven contributed to this report.