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Obama’s Farewell Address: ‘Yes, We Did’ Obama, Saying Goodbye, Warns of Threats to National Unity
(about 2 hours later)
CHICAGO — President Obama delivered a nostalgic and hopeful farewell address to the nation on Tuesday evening, but warned both the divided country he led for eight years and his successor not to shrink from the challenges of economic inequality, racial strife, political isolation and voter apathy that still threaten its ideal of democracy. CHICAGO — President Obama, delivering a farewell address in the city that launched his political career, declared on Tuesday his continued confidence in the American experiment. But he warned, in the wake of a toxic presidential election, that economic inequity, racism and closed-mindedness threatened to shred the nation’s democratic fabric.
Mr. Obama returned to the city that nurtured his political career and his improbable journey from Hyde Park to Pennsylvania Avenue, just 10 days before he will leave the White House to Donald J. Trump. In his final speech to the nation, the president expressed his belief that even the deepest ideological divides can be bridged by an active, engaged populace. “We weaken those ties when we define some of us as more American than others,” Mr. Obama said, “when we write off the whole system as inevitably corrupt, and when we sit back and blame the leaders we elect without examining our own role in electing them.”
“After eight years as your president, I still believe that,” Mr. Obama told a large crowd at McCormick Place, the cavernous lakeside convention center where he thanked supporters after his re-election in 2012. “And it’s not just my belief. It’s the beating heart of our American idea — our bold experiment in self-government.” Speaking to a rapturous crowd that recalled the excitement of his path-breaking campaign in 2008, Mr. Obama said he believed even the deepest ideological divides could be bridged. His words were nevertheless etched with frustration — a blunt coda to a remarkable day that laid bare many of the racial crosscurrents in the country.
Tearing up as he concluded the final speech of a remarkable political career, Mr. Obama thanked his wife, his daughters, his vice president (“the scrappy kid from Scranton”) and the army of supporters who helped sweep the first African-American into the White House. On Capitol Hill, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama presented himself as a moderate in his confirmation hearing for attorney general, while his critics denounced him as a racist. In Charleston, S.C., Dylann S. Roof, the white supremacist who shot nine black churchgoers, was sentenced to death.
“I won’t stop; in fact, I will be right there with you, as a citizen, for all my days that remain,” Mr. Obama pledged, fighting back emotion as audience members rose to their feet. He asked them to believe, as they did during his first campaign. “Yes, we can. Yes, we did. Yes, we can.” And here, in the cavernous convention hall where Mr. Obama celebrated his re-election in 2012, the nation’s first black president — still popular, still optimistic — bade America goodbye 10 days before turning over his office to President-elect Donald J. Trump, who ran what his critics labeled a racist campaign.
But a president who rode an exhortation of hope and change to the Oval Office delivered a final speech to the country built around the need to confront a changing world and nation. Mr. Obama pledged again to support his successor. But his speech was a thinly veiled rebuke of several of the positions Mr. Trump staked out during the campaign, from climate change and barring Muslims from entering the country to repealing his landmark health care law.
Mr. Obama urged the country to deal with the persistent problems that undermine the equality, diversity and unity that he sought to achieve during his tenure. He said economic inequality would continue to cause “disaffection and division” and warned that race would remain a potent force dividing the nation unless discrimination is attacked and eliminated. “If every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and undeserving minorities,” Mr. Obama said, “then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclave.”
“But laws alone won’t be enough. Hearts must change,” he told the crowd. “When minority groups voice discontent, they’re not just engaging in reverse racism or practicing political correctness; that when they wage peaceful protest, they’re not demanding special treatment, but the equal treatment our founders promised.” “If we decline to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don’t look like us, we diminish the prospects of our own children — because those brown kids will represent a larger share of America’s work force,” he added.
The president said that a splintered news media threatened democracy by allowing people to retreat into their own bubbles of knowledge, everyone certain of a different set of facts. “We become so secure in our bubbles that we accept only information, whether true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that’s out there,” he said. In giving a farewell address, Mr. Obama invoked a privilege of presidents going back to George Washington. He staked his claim as the leader who steered the nation through the storms of the Great Recession to a growing economy and job market. He claimed credit for reducing the rate of uninsured Americans to record lows, while keeping a cap on health care costs.
And, the president said, the country’s democratic order is threatened by a sense of apathy among the many Americans who do not vote or participate in civic life. He urged members of both political parties to work to restore trust in society’s institutions in ways that will attract more people to become involved in the country’s fate. In a pointed reference to Republicans determined to repeal the health care bill that was one of the signature accomplishments of his presidency, Mr. Obama said, “If anyone can put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements we’ve made to our health care system — that covers as many people at less cost — I will publicly support it.”
“If something needs fixing, lace up your shoes and do some organizing,” Mr. Obama, a onetime community organizer, told the crowd. “If you’re disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself. Show up. Dive in. Persevere. Sometimes you’ll win. Sometimes you’ll lose.” There were also nostalgic moments, as well. He recalled the 2008 campaign that started him on his improbable journey to the White House. He thanked the army of volunteers and staff members who swept him into the Oval Office, ending with the iconic chant, “Yes, we can.” And reflecting on all they had accomplished, he added, “Yes, we did.”
But, he added: “More often than not, your faith in America — and in Americans — will be confirmed.” “It has been the honor of my life to serve you,” Mr. Obama said. “I won’t stop; in fact, I will be right there with you, as a citizen, for all my remaining days.”
Eight years ago, Mr. Obama basked in the glow of his history-making victory that drew nearly a quarter-million people to a jubilant celebration in the city’s nearby Grant Park. On Tuesday night, visibly older and chastened by years of political battles in Washington, Mr. Obama returned to his adopted hometown to bring his tenure to an end. He drew some of the most thunderous applause of the night when he paid tribute to his wife, Michelle — “my best friend” — and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. — “a brother.” As the crowd of 18,000 clapped and stamped their feet, Mr. Obama dabbed his eyes.
“You are the best supporters and organizers anyone could hope for, and I will forever be grateful. Because yes, you changed the world,” Mr. Obama said. “I leave this stage tonight even more optimistic about this country than I was when we started.” Afterward, Mrs. Obama and her elder daughter, Malia, appeared onstage with the president, along with Mr. Biden and his wife, Jill. The Obamas’ younger daughter, Sasha, stayed in Washington because she has an exam in school on Wednesday morning, the White House said.
But that expression of hope was tempered by the reality playing out in the nation’s capital: Mr. Trump has promised to unwind Mr. Obama’s legacy, erasing the president’s disciplined and professorial approach to governing with a noisy, chaotic style of leadership. Even as Mr. Obama took the stage, another controversy dogged Mr. Trump even before his inauguration as unverified allegations about his personal behavior emerged in news reports. But Mr. Obama clearly wanted to use his last major turn on the national stage to send a message. Americans, he said, should not take their democracy for granted. Lamenting the perennially low voter turnout rates, Mr. Obama urged people to become involved. “If you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the internet,” he said, “try to talk with one in real life.”
Mr. Obama said he had committed to ensuring Mr. Trump “the smoothest possible transition,” drawing boos from a crowd clearly not ready to see that happen; at one point, they began chanting, “Four more years.” Mr. Obama dismissed them quickly, though. “I can’t do that,” he said. “America is not a fragile thing,” the president said. “But the gains of our long journey to freedom are not assured.”
In parts of the speech, Mr. Obama appeared to be talking to Mr. Trump as much as the rest of America, warning him of the dangers of continuing to stoke the divisions that helped Republicans defeat Hillary Clinton in the presidential campaign. The White House had meticulously planned this event, from the location to the tone and cadence of the speech, which clearly reached for the oratorical heights of his best-remembered addresses.
“That’s why I reject discrimination against Muslim Americans,” Mr. Obama said to huge cheers from the adoring crowd. “That’s why we cannot withdraw from global fights — to expand democracy, and human rights, women’s rights, and L.G.B.T. rights — no matter how imperfect our efforts, no matter how expedient ignoring such values may seem.” The president was still rewriting his remarks on Tuesday afternoon, one of his aides said, after being up very late Monday night scrawling edits on what was then already the fourth draft.
To a successor who has often questioned the reality of climate change, Mr. Obama seemed to say: Be careful. Mr. Obama’s chief speechwriter, Cody Keenan, pored over previous farewell addresses for inspiration. George Washington used the occasion to disclose he would not run for a third term and warned Americans to steer clear of foreign entanglements in Europe, while Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of the influence of the “military-industrial complex.”
“We can and should argue about the best approach to the problem,” he said. “But to simply deny the problem not only betrays future generations; it betrays the essential spirit of innovation and practical problem-solving that guided our founders.” Mr. Obama’s message recalled his final State of the Union address last year, as well as speeches he gave in Springfield, Ill.; at the commencement ceremonies at Howard University and Rutgers University; and during the Democratic National Convention.
For many Chicago residents, who embrace Mr. Obama as one of their own, the president’s speech was a coda to a political career that spoke as much to their own evolution as a community as it did to how the nation has changed over his eight years in office. Dozens of alumni from the White House and Mr. Obama’s political operation converged on Chicago to cheer their boss. With parties all over town, the atmosphere felt like a wistful version of 2012, or even more so, of 2008, when Mr. Obama’s election drew a quarter-million people to a jubilant victory celebration in nearby Grant Park.
The White House had meticulously planned the event, from the location to the tone and cadence of the speech. Mr. Obama was still rewriting the speech on Tuesday afternoon, one of his aides said, after being up late Monday night scrawling edits on what at that point was the fourth draft. There was, however, an undeniable tinge of sadness to Mr. Obama’s leave-taking — the dread among many in this crowd that his legacy will be undone by Mr. Trump, and the disappointment that, for all his political gifts, he was unable to hand over his office to his chosen successor, Hillary Clinton.
Dozens of alumni from the White House and Mr. Obama’s political operation converged on Chicago to witness their former boss’s last major turn on the national stage, attending parties and receptions all over town. “Beers and tears,” said Ben LaBolt, the former national press secretary for Mr. Obama’s re-election campaign. “Beers and tears,” said Ben LaBolt, who served as the national press secretary for Mr. Obama’s re-election campaign.
Many said they had waited hours in the cold to get tickets, like Ja-mese McGee, an elementary school teacher from the Chicago suburb Country Club Hills.
Those hours had a purpose. She wanted to demonstrate to her students that seeing Mr. Obama was worth the wait. “Better than waiting to shop on Black Friday. Better than waiting in line for gym shoes,” she said.
But Ms. McGee was troubled by Mr. Trump’s inauguration, and the damage it could do to Mr. Obama’s legacy. “There’s so much to say about him,” she said. “He maintained class, he maintained dignity. Honestly, I don’t want him to leave, but I’m sure it will be a load off his shoulders.”
Alvin Love, a Baptist minister, walked through the crowd holding the hand of his 6-year-old granddaughter, Bayleigh Love, who wore a red sequined party dress.
He and Mr. Obama go back 30 years, when the president was a young community organizer on the South Side. “It’s mixed emotions for me,” he said. “I’m sad to see it come to an end, but proud and happy to see the work that he’s done.”
Mr. Love said he believed Mr. Obama’s work could be sustained, even with the advent of a Trump presidency. “Any time right is done, it will sooner or later stand up again.”