In an attempt to show the world how far America has come during his presidency, Obama praised his accomplishments in his seventh and final State of the Union address Tuesday night, listed ways in which America can still “change” for the better and took a thinly veiled swipe at GOP front-runner Donald Trump.

Without mentioning Trump by name, Obama urged America to “fix our politics” and appeared to jab the leading Republican candidate, who has suggested a temporary ban on Muslim immigration until the U.S. can determine who poses a threat to national security:

“We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion,” Obama said. “This isn’t a matter of political correctness. It’s a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith. His Holiness, Pope Francis, told this body from the very spot I stand tonight that ‘to imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place.’ When politicians insult Muslims, whether abroad or our fellow citizens, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid is called names, that doesn’t make us safer. That’s not telling it like it is. It’s just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country.”

Those comments received a standing ovation. Trump tweeted: “The #SOTU speech is really boring, slow, lethargic – very hard to watch!”

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In another apparent slap at Trump, Obama stated, “Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get attention.”

Even South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, in her GOP response to the State of the Union, seized on the opportunity to take a shot at Trump. She urged Americans to reject the “angriest voices” on immigration.

“During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the silent call of the angriest voices,” she said. “We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country.”

During his speech, Obama also claimed America’s reputation around the globe has improved since he entered the White House.

“Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office,” he said, “and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead – they call us.”

Meanwhile, even as Obama touted the Iran nuclear deal backed by his administration in 2015, a national security crisis unfolded as news broke that Iran had captured and arrested 10 U.S. sailors.

“We built a global coalition, with sanctions and principled diplomacy, to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran,” he declared, highlighting what he believed to be successes in America’s diplomatic relations with Iran. “As we speak, Iran has rolled back its nuclear program, shipped out its uranium stockpile, and the world has avoided another war.”

Stating that his top priority is “protecting the American people and going after terrorist networks,” Obama said ISIS and al-Qaida pose a direct threat to America.

“As we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands,” he argued. “Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence. That’s the story ISIL wants to tell; that’s the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. We don’t need to build them up to show that we’re serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the world’s largest religions. We just need to call them what they are – killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down and destroyed.”

With that, he demanded, “If this Congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to our troops and the world, you should finally authorize the use of military force against ISIL. Take a vote.”

Obama continued, “If you doubt America’s commitment – or mine – to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden. Ask the leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen, who was taken out last year, or the perpetrator of the Benghazi attacks, who sits in a prison cell. When you come after Americans, we go after you.”

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In Syria, Obama said America is partnering with local forces and leading international efforts to “help that broken society pursue a lasting peace.”

He also vowed to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“I will keep working to shut down the prison at Guantanamo,” Obama said. “It’s expensive, it’s unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies.”

The president reflected on some of the biggest moments of his presidency and his upcoming plans to address low wages, climate change, job security.

“The future we want is within our reach,” Obama said. “But it will only happen if we work together. It will only happen if we have rational, constructive debates. It will only happen if we fix our politics.”

He argued that America’s diversity is its greatest strength. He urges Americans not to fear change and disruptions in their future:

“We live in a time of extraordinary change – change that’s reshaping the way we live, the way we work, our planet and our place in the world. It’s change that promises amazing medical breakthroughs, but also economic disruptions that strain working families. It promises education for girls in the most remote villages, but also connects terrorists plotting an ocean away. It’s change that can broaden opportunity, or widen inequality. And whether we like it or not, the pace of this change will only accelerate.

“America has been through big changes before – wars and depression, the influx of immigrants, workers fighting for a fair deal, and movements to expand civil rights. Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears. We did not, in the words of Lincoln, adhere to the ‘dogmas of the quiet past.’ Instead, we thought anew, and acted anew. We made change work for us, always extending America’s promise outward, to the next frontier, to more and more people. And because we did – because we saw opportunity where others saw only peril – we emerged stronger and better than before.”

Obama asked America if it would respond to the changes of our time with fear, “turning inward as a nation, and turning against each other as a people,” or face the future “with confidence in who we are, what we stand for, and the incredible things we can do together.”

He presented four “big questions” he said America will have to answer:

1) How do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy?

2) How do we make technology work for us, and not against us – especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change?

3) Do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman?

4) How can we make our politics reflect what’s best in us, and not what’s worst?

Regarding the U.S. economy, Obama said, “The United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world. We’re in the middle of the longest streak of private-sector job creation in history. More than 14 million new jobs; the strongest two years of job growth since the ’90s; an unemployment rate cut in half. … Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction.”

He proposed making college affordable for everyone in America by offering the first two years “free.”

“I’m going to keep fighting to get that started this year,” he said.

Obama also proposed a “system of wage insurance” to supplement Americans’ income if they lose employment and their new jobs pay a lower wage.

He proposed government intervention to ensure “the system’s not rigged in favor of the wealthiest and biggest corporations.”

Obama also announced a “new effort” to find a cure for cancer.

“Last year, Vice President [Joe] Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer,” Obama said. “Last month, he worked with this Congress to give scientists at the National Institutes of Health the strongest resources they’ve had in over a decade. Tonight, I’m announcing a new national effort to get it done. And because he’s gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past forty years, I’m putting Joe in charge of Mission Control. For the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the family we can still save, let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all.”

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He then took a jab at Americans who don’t accept climate change as settled science.

“Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it,” he said. “You’ll be pretty lonely, because you’ll be debating our military, most of America’s business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community and 200 nations around the world who agree it’s a problem and intend to solve it. But even if the planet wasn’t at stake; even if 2014 wasn’t the warmest year on record – until 2015 turned out even hotter – why would we want to pass up the chance for American businesses to produce and sell the energy of the future?”

On energy, Obama said he plans to “push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet.”

In previous years, presidents have used their final State of the Union addresses to promote a White House successor. Notably, Obama chose not to champion Hillary Clinton for the presidency in his final address. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough wrote last week: “This year, the president will do what is rarely done in Washington: Think beyond the next election.”

On Tuesday, Democratic Party candidate Bernie Sanders surged ahead of Clinton in polling in both Iowa and New Hampshire. A Quinnipiac University poll showed 49 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa say they will support Sanders while 44 percent chose Clinton. Also a Monmouth University poll showed Sanders surging ahead of Clinton with 53 percent compared to her 39 percent.

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Watch South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley deliver the GOP response to the State of the Union:

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