Courtesy Good Morning America
"Yes we can. Yes we did. Yes we can."
With these words, President Obama wrapped up the
farewell remarks of his presidency with the same soaring rhetoric of
hope that he rode into the White House eight years ago.
He took the opportunity of the speech to a crowd in
his adopted hometown of Chicago to thank to the American people for the
opportunity to serve as president for two terms.
"Every day, I learned from you," he said. "You made me a better president, and you made me a better man."
He made mention of some of his key accomplishments
and thanked those who have stood by his side through the past eight
years, especially his family, for which he offered an emotional tribute,
as well as Vice President Joe Biden and the military.
But Obama, who spoke to a crowd of approximately
18,000, according to the White House, also used the speech to issue a
warning about the fragility of democracy. He specifically identified
race relations, income inequality and the state of political discourse
as threats to the fabric of the republic.
On the issue of race, Obama acknowledged the
significant progress that's been made in recent decades but said that it
remains an often "divisive force in our society" and noted there was an
unrealistic idea after his election that we had entered a "postracial
America."
"If we're going to be serious about race, going
forward, we must uphold laws against discrimination — in hiring, in
housing, in education and the criminal justice system. That's what our
Constitution and highest ideals require. But laws alone won't be enough.
Hearts must change," Obama said.
"For blacks and other minorities, it means tying our
own struggles for justice to the challenges that a lot of people in
this country face — not only the refugee, the immigrant, the rural poor,
the transgender American but also the middle-aged white man who from
the outside may seem like he's got all the advantages but who's seen his
world upended by economic, cultural and technological change," Obama
said.
"For white Americans, it means acknowledging that
the effects of slavery and Jim Crow didn't suddenly vanish in the '60s,
that 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," he continued.
He warned that "stark inequality is also corrosive to our democratic ideas."
"While the top 1 percent has amassed a bigger share
of wealth and income, too many of our families, in inner cities and
rural counties, have been left behind — the laid-off factory worker, the
waitress and health care worker who struggle to pay the bills —
convinced that the game is fixed against them, that their government
only serves the interests of the powerful. That's a recipe for more
cynicism and polarization in our politics," he said.
Obama scolded a tendency in modern political discourse that encourages partisanship and divisions over compromise.
"In the course of a healthy debate, we'll
prioritize different goals and the different means of reaching them. But
without some common baseline of facts, without a willingness to admit
new information and concede that your opponent might be making a fair
point and that science and reason matter, we'll keep talking past each
other, making common ground and compromise impossible."
In
giving a final speech, Obama continued in a tradition started by George
Washington in 1796 and followed by many outgoing presidents since.
President George W. Bush gave a farewell speech eight years ago from the
East Room of the White House.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
