With the remaining days of his presidency officially down to single digits, a reflective President Obama returned to his adopted hometown on Tuesday night to deliver his farewell address in front of a packed convention center in the South Side of Chicago. Perhaps sensing the immense burden finally about to be lifted from his shoulders, the president appeared mostly relaxed and upbeat, laughingly responding, "I can't do that!" to the occasional chants of "Four more years!" that interrupted his opening remarks. By the end of the speech, it was hard to blame them for trying.
Given President Obama's many accomplishments over the past eight years, these last several months have to feel like a bit of a letdown. For God's sake, he led the country through the Great Recession, shepherded the economy to unprecedented heights, and brought America's healthcare system into the twenty-first century (or at least the twentieth). For all this, the country thanked him by electing a successor whose entire political career stemmed from his tireless perpetuation of a race-baiting lie about President Obama's place of birth. Nonetheless, the president used his platform Tuesday night to issue one final, impassioned plea for optimism.
He began by pointing out the seemingly intractable problems to which America must turn next: updating its badly outdated social compact, grappling with its history of institutionalized racism and unchecked bigotry, and standing united against "violent fanatics" and "autocrats in foreign capitals"—which, hmmm—who seek to undermine democracy. Yet, he argued, America is uniquely primed to overcome these challenges, despite today's uncertainty and rancor, because it gives every one of its citizens the opportunity to shape its future.
Frustrated with politics? Maybe get the hell off of Twitter.
Hang on, it's about to get dusty in here.
This country didn't deserve President Obama, but he gave it everything he had anyway, inspiring millions of Americans to see democracy not just as a form of government, but as a way of life. Tuesday's speech was a fitting exclamation point to this proud legacy.