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PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA addressed America and the world for the final time as president last night, in a speech that was both a tearful goodbye and a call to arms.
Capping his eight years in the White House, Obama returned to his adoptive hometown of Chicago to recast his “yes we can” campaign credo as “yes we did”.
Listing landmarks of his presidency – from the Iran nuclear deal to reforming healthcare – much of the speech was dedicated to lifting up supporters shaken by Donald Trump’s shock election.
Obama called on them to pick up the torch, fight for democracy and forge a new “social compact”.
“For all our outward differences, we are all in this together,” he said warning that partisanship, racism, and inequality all threatened democracy.
We rise or fall as one.
“All of us, regardless of party, should throw ourselves into the task of rebuilding our democratic institutions.”
The incoming Republican president has smashed conventions, vowed to efface Obama’s legacy and hurled personal insults left and right, while in a virtually unprecedented move US intelligence has accused the Kremlin of seeking to tip the election in Trump’s favour.
Democrats, cast into the political wilderness with the loss of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives plus a majority of statehouses, are struggling to regroup.
Obama painted the task ahead as a generational challenge.
- Emotional finale -
“A faith in reason, and enterprise, and the primacy of right over might” he said, had allowed the United States to “resist the lure of fascism and tyranny during the Great Depression, and build a post-World War II order with other democracies”.
In comments that resonate as Americans ponder whether Russia helped to put Trump in the White House, Obama said “that order is now being challenged”.
First by violent fanatics who claim to speak for Islam; more recently by autocrats in foreign capitals who see free markets, open democracies, and civil society itself as a threat to their power.
“The peril each poses to our democracy is more far-reaching than a car bomb or a missile. ”
Obama’s last trip on Air Force One was a pilgrimage to his adoptive hometown, where he addressed a sell-out crowd of some 18,000 not far from where he delivered his victory speech eight years ago.
Diehard fans – many African Americans – braved Chicago’s frigid winter to collect free tickets, which were selling for upwards of $1,000 a piece on Craigslist.
They were joined by First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill – who the president described as “family” in an emotional finale to his speech.
Wiping a tear from his eye, Obama paid poignant tribute to his own family, his daughter Malia who was present and Sasha who was not, and the first lady who he addressed as his best friend.
“You took on a role you didn’t ask for and made it your own with grace and grit and style and good humour,” he said.
A new generation sets its sights higher because it has you as a role model. You’ve made me proud. You’ve made the country proud.
Life after White House
With an approval rating hovering around 55%, according to a Quinnipiac University poll, Obama still carries considerable political weight.
Some 51% of Americans polled believe that Trump is doing a bad job as president-elect.
Trump’s unorthodox politics have thrown the 55-year-old Obama’s transition and post-presidency plans into flux.
Having vowed a smooth handover of power, Obama has found himself being increasingly critical of Trump as he prepares to leave office on 10 January.
After that there will still be a holiday and an autobiography, but Obama could find himself being dragged backed into the political fray if Trump were to enact a Muslim registry or deport adults brought to the United States years ago by their parents.
Having vowed to take a backseat in politics, Obama’s second act could yet be as politically engaged as Jimmy Carter — whose post-presidency has remade his image as an elder statesman.
Many Obama aides who had planned to take exotic holidays or launch bank balance-replenishing forays into the private sector are also reassessing their future and mulling a return to the political trenches.
Obama’s foundation is already gearing up for a quasi-political role – funneling idealistic youngsters into public life.
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Dinosaurs voting for extinction.
@theseadoc thinking they are going back to the glory days of the empire.
@Brian Madden: jesus, grown adults calling themselves the star chamber, the UK is electing some beauties these days.
@Rayzor: This is not a lie, 100% true. They call themselves individually amongst themselves the ‘Star Wizards’, I wish I was joking but I am not.
@Gary Garden: Sure it’s hard to believe that Mark Francois is actually a real person and not a Harry Enfield character.
@Rayzor: Very true haha
On a general note the Conservative party particularly their cabinet and the right wing are really pitiful, a combination of air heads masquerading as ministers and then the old empire enthusiasts. Go Global Britain lol it’s such a comedy show.
@Gary Garden: can’t be doing to bad if they’re the 5th richest country in the whole entire world
@Michael Patrick: Hello Westy, they wont be in top 10 soon.
@Gary Garden: They have the 5th biggest economy but on a per capita basis they are miles down the table, 26th on GDP(PPP) and 20th GDP(nominal). Ireland is within the top 4 of both. They also have the wealthiest part of Northern europe in London but also 9 of the 10 most impoverished parts.
@Rayzor: Hi Rayzor, I lived and worked in the UK for over 6 years. I know where the wealth and poverty is quite well. This is Brexit and the only outcome is the rich will get richer and I dont need to say the rest. The average Brit is über gullible and just need to hear a posh and plump voice to believe they are as a country going in the right direction. They are in for a rude awakening now. No voice on the big table, US under Biden isnt going to prioritise the ‘special relationship’ BS which is just Anglo Saxon nostalgia by the way. They are now a minnow, they wonr even draw in FDI as they dont have EU labour market access. Its beyond mindblowingly stupid what they’ve dont.
@Gary Garden: hello spa who you calling westy
I think the differences between Theresa’s proposals and what has now been agreed are very small. The old Tory empire worshippers have now seen a little of what they could have expected if they had achieved the hard Brexit they so craved. The motorways to the ports blocked and no one in the EU too worried about their great friends in UK and best of all Donald dumped from power and replaced by a politician who knows that world prosperity is built on cooperation and not isolation. Good man Joe B.
@JG: where can I find an honest comparison between the Teresa deal and the current deal?
So let me get this straight – the ERG (who wanted Brexit so the UK could “reclaim its sovereignty from the EU”), are now saying that the Brexit deal is good because it “preserves the UK’s sovereignty”.
Last time I checked, “preserves” means to maintain something in its current or original state – in other words, preserving UK sovereignty is keeping what’s already in place….
@Brian: Preserve can refer to the future too
@Thomas O’ Donnell: preserve can be jam
I don’t know which is worse. Being a Brexiteer or a member of the Republican Party in the USA.
@Tim Quigley: you don’t know much.
It’s their decision and they have followed through. We’ll only know if it’s a good or Abad thing in years to come. But good luck to them.
@Sean Oige: Yes, they might need a bit of luck.
Dup party unmangling itself from the front wheel of the bus after it getting chucked under it.a party that wanted brexit now votes against brexit,haha
@reginald: mistake they made was not backing May’s deal. If they had they be no border north/south or east/west. Current deal has certainly weakened the Union.
The concept of sovereignty and the reality of the Fishing aspect of the Brexit deal are mutually exclusive and it would be disingenuous to claim otherwise. Scottish fishermen are rightly concerned at the very suggestion of having taken back “sovereignty “ given that the status quo ante shall pertain for 5.5 long years and even then the EU has an option to resile from the whole Agreement should a negotiated access to UK waters not be agreed. Even if a further Agreement can be negotiated it’s terms will be slanted in favour of the French fleet under pain of the sort of disruption witnessed at Dover in the past few days. Better to have forced Macron’s hand but when the Brits witnessed the chais at Dover the writing was on the wall. Fishing was a zero sum game in terms of hard economics
Those knobs would vote for anything
That black microphone really looks like a horn
oh course they are happy – the right of the UK to control it’s financial services and retain their tax havens was a priority to the offshore wealthy I understand. That it seems was worth it over an EU – UK financial services agreement.
Actually, not the worst outcome for Ireland by any means.. sorry about the fish – but this makes interesting reading https://ec.europa.eu/ireland/news/key-eu-policy-areas/fisheries_en
Them knobs would vote for anything.
Its pretty ironic that one of the stated reasons for the ERG supporting this deal is, that they don’t see it as binding, to the extent that they can choose to renege on it as soon as it pleases a “robust government” to do so and then trade under WTO rules and tariffs.
have your say