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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.
“Yes we did” There’s a merchandiser in Offaly scrambling to get to work this morning. In other news half price “Yes we can” t-shirts for sale in Moneygal.
Wants supporters to fight for democracy. Seems that the Democrats weren’t very democratic. Just ask bernie sanders. Also the protests against the new democratically elected president. More hollow hypocritical words from Obama.
There is a massive doubt about the fairness of the elected president. There is a report under investigation since October which if true means that Trump is no less than a compromised American traitor.
At the least the FBI sat on an investigation into Trump while releasing info that they were investigating Hillery 11 days out
@TurloughC: if Trump is a compromised traitor what does that make killary clingon that is in the pockets of anybody or any state with money
@turloughc Okay what is trump suspected to possibly have done?
@Maurice Bourke: I suspect you wont get an answer on that for obvious reasons.
There is no shadow over the electoral process of Trump. There is a blatant, agitprop campaign that started during the election process. With the pre-election rhetoric, it acted as a huge psychological primer, carried through the campaigning time and manifests into a full blown agitprop campaign after the election.
How many are buying this obvious psychological warfare campaign is quite amusing. The anti-tin-foil-hat brigade, have become trimmed with a perfectly fitting Reynolds wrap Trilby.
@TurloughC: If you believe all you hear you will ate all you see. Why is it not possible to give you a thumbs up or down?
@Maurice Bourke: He broke the Bookmakers to my profit. He wasted millions of Hollywood celebrities money given Hillary to make her president and give them tax breaks. He is ending TTPP which Richard Boyd Barrett despises. He saved jobs that were leaving in car manufacture. He offered to hold talks with the Russians to allow me sell them beef again.
@TurloughC: If you believe all you hear you will ate all you see. Why is it not possible to give you a thumbs up or down?
Obama, 8 years of genuine warmth and not one piece of scandal. God speed.
@Simie Joyce: you’re an absolute fool if you believe that! No scandals… dear lord.
What scandal. Do enlightened us.
What scandals were they? Please enlighten us…
Yes fool, what scandals?
@Simie Joyce:
Well, for one he openly invited members of BLM into the White House and voiced public support for their movement. The same movement who’s hate-filled rhetoric has been used as an excuse to gun down police officers, burn and loot the neighbourhoods that they allege to protect or abduct and torture mentally unstable teens.
That’s all lies and alt – right narrative Jason. Stick to Wilders and Holland
@Jason Culligan: You’re talking through your hoop..
“abduct and torture mentally unstable teens” – please provide 100% proof that that was the fault of the BLM movement ? Thanks.
@Jason Culligan: “burn down and loot the neighbourhoods” -please provide 100% proof that the BLM movement called for that ? Thanks..
Jason -please provide the exact words that Obama said..Thanks..
@Simie Joyce: many will only know obama by the warmth of a US drone strike
@Francis Mc Carthy: what kind of person has a “personal” facebook profile that consists of mostly US propoganda memes? stooges that’s who!
@Francis Mc Carthy:
“please provide 100% proof that that was the fault of the BLM movement ? Thanks.”
Former Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy blamed the rise of violent crime in Chicago on BLM directly. According to him, protests in the city resulted in a reduced level of policing in Chicago which has resulted in an uptake in violent crime including this recent abduction.
There is a wealth of evidence which shows that BLM actively encourages violence. We have the infamous ‘dead cops’ and ‘pigs in a blanket’ chants which show their organisation actively calling for attacks on police.
We have video evidence of multiple BLM speakers calling for violence to resolve the demands of BLM. We have video after video of BLM members calling for a race war.
TDV- you ok hun?
@Jason Culligan: You are still rattling on about that ‘dead cops’ chant,even when it was shown to be a few gurriers that were doing it after the protest..Tsk tsk!
That Officer was sacked in disgrace…I need 100% proof that the BLM movement called for looting & riots in the cities..If you cannot provide it,then it’s best to stop your posts to me..Thanks again..
@Francis Mc Carthy: if you’re so sure you’re correct, then can you please provide 100% to debunk the claims made, surely you must have concrete evidence of there being another reason or is your stance based on nonsense
@TDV: I didn’t make the claims..Try to keep up..Good lad..
@Jason. Black lives matter do not have a hate filled rhetoric. Here you go…educate yourself, http://blacklivesmatter.com/guiding-principles/ yes yes sure you will find a YouTube of a person interweaving the Black Lives matter mantra with hate speech but I’m sure a clever and educated guy like yourself, with so much to say about everything, can recognise that this is not the rhetoric of the black lives matter organisation, it is the rhetoric of a person. Black lives do matter… it’s true! Would it make you feel better if we put “too” at the end of it?
Haha Jason, “the former Chicago police superintendente” riiiiight! Because the Chicago police have such a greeeeeeat history of honest, they would never consider trying to belittle or destroy a Black political organisation focused on empowerment. Oh no, hold on…isn’t it the Chicago police force who have historically murdered black activists https://www.thenation.com/article/was-fred-hampton-executed/ but don’t take my word for it, just look up the civil lawsuit filed in 1970 which resulted in a settlement of $1.85 million in 1982 for the family. There are many more examples, I’m sure a clever guy such as your self can read up on them.
@Simie Joyce: I think not…
http://www.dailywire.com/news/10982/obama-says-hes-had-scandal-free-administration-aaron-bandler
@Simie Joyce: He murdered Gadaffi and destroyed Libya, the best market of Irish beef there was, gone
“Yes he did ” speak very well but not much else .
His speeches are probably his best attribute
Shane what about Osama bin Laden?
@Mjhint: a rotting corpse, at the bottom of the Persian gulf
Bin laden was discovered by Pakistan intelligence , the info was given to US officials who acted on it.
Yes he did give the order but can’t give Obama credit for this.
Not sure about that Shane. Was it not Pakistani intelligence who put him on Abbotabad? The Pakistanis were pretty pissed off about the assassination.
Hotbank
I except your point, but I have also read that the Abbotabad lead was a smoke screen so as not to give bin laden the jitters and disappear again
@ Shane – that’s daft. You could say the same about any action of a president – oh he was just acting on intelligence, oh it was a civil servant that decided to bail out the banks, oh it’s civil rights activists that moved forward the LGBT equality agenda.
Gotta say that if Osama was not got the right would be using it as more collateral to say he’s a “Muslim sympathiser”.
Peter, so he should take credit for something he didn’t do?
His biggest attribute during his tenure as president – was he is a very personable man, a family man, not one personnel scandal and a good talker – he was the candy popcorn of presidents! but the fact is politically he did not achieve much.
You can thank the Republicans obstructionist politics for that.
Seth, always someone else’s fault. Always.
@Joseph Siddall: But they are facts all the same..
@Francis Mc Carthy: US propaganda pusher above!! be aware ;)
@seth haha just no
A Nobel peace price for this president what a joke he dropped more bombs all over the world and in more different countries than any other president! He publicly and financially backed israel while they systematically bombed and murdered palastinian men women and children. Failed president!
Dropping bombs is the thing most alt-right/anti-Obama point to as proof that he’s a “failed president”. Obama did not start these wars and for the most part takes his advice from military leaders. We could write all day about the merits or dangers of drone warfare but it’s clear that it’s not a black and white thing and we do not have access to the information he has. What I judge Obama on is his enthusiasm for the job and genuine drive to help the American people without desire for personal gain or publicity. By doing just that he has earned vocal critics which tell me he did a good job. On the other side you have Trump who has wormed his way through business on cheap credit and dodgy deals. Everything he has done in life is for personal gain or publicity, usually both. He has no track record of helping people in fact there are countless examples of where he has treated people like dirt. I know who I would rather vote for.
@The Guru: An excellent post that won’t go down too well with certain folks..
@The Guru: He won’r release Leonard Peltier either. If is was ISIS killers he would let them all out
‘Yes we did’…cause as much trouble as possible before handing over.
@Charley Brady: One of his daughters didn’t bother to turn up and all 3 of them were wiping their dry eyes with tissues, why???
“If I had told you 8 years ago that we would have marriage equality……”
You opposed it 8 years ago, so yeah it seemed unlikely.
@Emeralds:
Obama also promised to cut the US national debt.
2008 – $10 TRILLION
2016 – $20 TRILLION
er………….
@Ó Connmhaigh:
He promised to cut the deficit…
Deficit of percentage of GDP
2009- 9.8 %
2015 -2.4 %
er…….
Yikes.
Yes We did – er nothing mindful and I’ve spent the last 18 months trying to not to look like lame duck do nothing President.
@Francis Mc Carthy:
“In simple terms, a budget deficit is the difference between what the federal government spends (called outlays) and what it takes in (called revenue or receipts). The national debt, also known as the public debt, is the result of the federal government borrowing money to cover years and years of budget deficits.”
@Ó Connmhaigh:
Nice try,but no cigar!
You said that “Obama also promised to cut the US national debt.”
Nope! He never said that he’d do that.What he said was: “Today I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office,” “Now, this will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we’ve long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay, and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control.”
Hope this clears it up.
Have a great day!
@Emeralds:
But this useless waste of a good suit didn’t do it anyway although he opposed it 8 years ago. It was SCOTUS.
Did he really? If i remember correctly he didn’t do much except force obamacare through which still could be repealed. Clear bias from the journal with the use of the header photo compared to the previous story
yes he did double the national debt
yes he did spend more time at war than any other US president
yes he did prosecute more whistleblowers than all other US presidents combined
yes he did receive the nobel peace prize as soon as he got into office and then went on to bomb 7 mostly muslim countries over the next 8 years
yes he did leave thousands of troops in Afghanistan/Iraq
yes he did leave Guantanamo open
yes he did accuse publically accuse Snowden of being a “low level analyst” and Snowden corrected his ex-boss that he was well aware Snowden WAS a actually high level spy for the US
yes he did proclaim to his aides that “he’s very good at killing people”
yes he did further extend the reach of secret agencies into the whole worlds private lives that still hasn’t done much to stop people from being attacked
yes he did authorise the almost complete destruction of another sovereign nation by arming the very same terror group that apparently attacked on 9-11
yes he did push for the escalation of NATO buildup towards the Russian border in a bid to destabalise the peace that has existed between the superpowers since the end of the cold war
@TDV: What did Bush’s two fake wars add to that debt?And what did the destroyed economy that Bush left him add to it? Thanks..
@Francis Mc Carthy: you’re failing miserably to distract from the fact the national debt was x when he came to power and it’s now y, it doesn’t really matter how many bushes came before him but then that doesn’t suit your narrative ;)
https://www.thebalance.com/national-debt-under-obama-3306293
How much is it costing the US government to treat the 800,000 veterans from those two wars? Or are you of the belief that Obama should refuse to a) treat them & b) refuse them their disability entitlements ?Thanks in advance..
@Francis Mc Carthy: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/10/23/499065155/u-s-soldiers-told-to-repay-thousands-in-signing-bonuses-from-height-of-war-effor
@TDV: You seem to be struggling with the questions that I am asking you…
How much is it COSTING the US government to TREAT the 800,000 veterans from those two wars? Or are you of the belief that Obama should refuse to a) TREAT THEM & b) refuse them their DISABILITY BENEFITS ?
@Francis Mc Carthy: are you actually trying to say that the cost of cupporting 800k vets is what’s pushed up the national debt from $10,000,000,000,000 to over $19,000,000,000,000?
want to know the overlall cost of the war of terror that the us has waged since saudi backed terrorists crashed planes that were allowed have all the free time they required to slam into the twin towers then you can read all about it here https://www.thebalance.com/war-on-terror-facts-costs-timeline-3306300
@TDV: I am saying that that is ‘part’ of the cost to the debt,and that the huge ‘financial mess’ that Bush left added to it ,too….Now,will you provide the policies that Obama has brought in,the reasons why they were brought in,and how much they cost/added to the debt
Hope that I’m not asking too much of you…Thanks in advance..
Most consecutive months of job growth since 1939, 30 million more people have health insurance, expanded food assistance programmes to include people that were previously considered poor but not poor enough, saved the auto industry, bailed out banks in a way that yielded profits for the people.
@Dave O Keeffe:
Still pushing that broken cart. Not to mention bailed out the banks at the expense of continued instability, with excessive pressure for Europe.
Nice to see you support the American’s over your own people.
@TDV: It seems that your problems with Obama are actually ongoing for years way before him.. you just jumped on the mental case bandwagon as you (somehow) found other nutcases who support that psychopath. you should move to the states, let Trump grab you P@ssy and see how great he is going to be.. love to see what type of job you would do with a whole senate of people blocking what you want to implement
@shane mooney: you are right shane, i despise what the US and more specifically the industrial war machine and it’s pawns have gotten up to the last few decades but i have not jumped on some bandwagon, you know absolutely nothing about me. your statement about trump grabbing my pussy is the height of nonsense, will he be at the airport waiting for me or do i have to apply somewhere?
@Francis Mc Carthy: ok Francis
“Since 2001, 2.7 million service members have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many have been wounded or injured, and suffer from conditions ranging from brain injuries to hearing loss. The United States has already spent $160.4 billion providing medical care and disability benefits to these veterans”
http://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/economic/budget/veterans
@TDV: Now, you must add the interest from the borrowed money that was/is used to finance those two wars,add how much it costs to replace/upkeep all machinery.From memory,I do believe that it costs nearly 3 million a year to have just one soldier in Afghanistan..These are just some of the costs that can be directly blamed to Bush & not Obama…
@Francis Mc Carthy: i’ll do all that when you factor in the off the books profits from the Afghan heroin trade (supplying 95% of the whole worlds street heroin!) that the US has been using as it’s personal slush fund to finance these illegal wars
@Francis Mc Carthy: see francis you tried to let on that the cost of supporting the vets was somehow responcible for a $10,000,000,000,000 increase in the US national debt. you do realise that a 10 trillion increase is 10 million million increase right? i answered and showed you the US only spent 160b on the vets since 2001, we’re talking specifically about 2008 to now, it’s only pocket change and then you move the goalposts again and start raving on about interest, depreciation and $3,000,000 per soldier in Afghanistan. I think you’ve got the costs per soldier wrong and are instead mixing up the price paid to blackwater for their private corporate army aka mercinary guns for hire that were being paid multiples of the actual US soldiers wages. you haven’t a clue
@TDV: Will you ever cop yourself on…I said that the two fake wars & the financial mess that Bush left was also reasons for the debt going up..Are you honestly saying that Obama is responsible for all of that debt ? That is hilarious…
About the costs of having a soldier in Afghanistan :
“But just because those U.S. troops in Afghanistan no longer have a combat mission doesn’t mean they’re a bargain: the CRS report says the cost of keeping a single American soldier there this year is an eye-watering $3.9 million.”
@Francis Mc Carthy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEB-jl4DDhU
Enjoy retirement Mr Obama. You’ve earned it.
Crocodile tears
Is this the same Obama that bombed 7 countries in 8 years,in the name of democracy.
But, no he didn’t. I read that he was the US President who spent the longest time at war!
And he didn’t close Guantanamo Bay as promised before he was elected.
@Nixie Goldslip:
Idiotic comment
The wars he inherited from Bush and Guantanamo was kept going by the Republicans
Still trotting out the old Martin Luther King routine.
Hilarious.
White liberals fall for it every time.
Didn’t you read the news Alex? They are shutting down your troll factory in Petrograd
As they say he was no Commandeer in Chief – certainly a Commandeer in Speech, good riddance. So to safeguard democracy – read his lips. For it is he and his like that Trump in the White house, arrogance, contempt for opponents at home and abroad. Obama was a good concept to hang a cause on but not much of substance, Middle east is an even worse mess than when he came to office, potential enemies are now real because of his ineptitude on international stage, the world is not a safer place and it is now populated with dodgy unpredictable characters simply because Obama and his like are so far out of touch it is scary.
@Austin Rock: they’re not out of touch at all, the know exactly the consequences of their actions = endless massive profits for them and their backers
Yes you tried Mr President. But no you didn’t succeed as much as you or we had hoped. You underachieved on the big promises that you made, but with the big orange hot air balloon coming in soon Obama’s legacy is likely to be remembered fondly
Very tired!
Well at least he tired.
@The_Techno_Mage:
Looks very tired all right.
I watched his speech and concluded he was a complete light weight. He said he brought more car manufacture, not true. He did not adequately deal with the ISIS issue and made made light of the threat they pose and suffering they caused and is denial about their threat to security.. He informed ISIS of the date he was leaving Iraq, this shows he has no tactical ability. Central was climate and renewable energy. He thinks he can have jobs and cut carbon, it does not work like that. 23 trillion of debt handed to Trump.
I think I can sum him up as been adulterant, who has lot to learn. He just does not get it, there is a slate loose. We are luck to see the end of him.
@Val Martin: you’ve added so much to this world yourself i assume, big words from a nobody
@shane mooney: what kindof childish statement is that shane?
A complete Gentleman
@Adrianholland:
sure he was
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/03/obama-drones-double-down_n_4208815.html
@Adrianholland: Yeah, in the sense of GW Bush. Main difference; he made cool speeches while Bush played the idiot.
Policy differences? Almost none.
Yes we did destabilise the Middle East through a deluded policy of colour revolutions
What a fraud that man is.
Isis will miss its commander in chief.
Did wha?
The most notable thing he did was to kill countless (and uncounted) numbers of innocent civilians in various Muslim lands while also managing to get about a dozen jihadis.
The most notable thing he failed to do was close the Guantanamo Concentration Camp.
Obama is the prime example of a celebrity… his supporters were fandoms who were head over heels of his acting, of his character and background but as a rational person, what did he do?
He is a blatant racist, supports islam, gays or anything that is against Christianity. Obama war was against Christianity, where he persecuted and divided Christians across the world and US.
The thing is, I do think he was a jihadist in disguise… otherwise, I cannot understand his actions or words. He created ISIS, he financed, trained them… and when we were about to wipe them out, he starts a war with Russia(which he lost). Without Russia, Europe and Ireland would have been lost… except this man destroyed the Middle East and acted like Europe is supposed to clean up his mess.
@Liviu Flore: Exactly
Fake News, not a single tear or tears but the paper hankeies were out, playing the people again?
Lets see what Obama said and see what would happen if Trump said the same words?
Obama’s Farewell Speech… 10/01/17
“If we are unwilling to invest in the children of immigrants just because they don’t look like us.
We will diminish the prospects of our own children because those brown kids will represent a larger and larger share of America’s workforce.”
Followed by a big cheer by everyone.
“Also the middle aged white guy who from the outside may seem like he’s got advantages but has seen his world upended by economic and cultural and technological change, we have to pay attention and listen.”
Shirley he meant social CONTRACT? Cuz the other one would be a bit too close for comfort.
He said in his inaugural speech that he would harness the wind and he did make a good start. The problem is wind energy does not work, at best it saves 2% of its own capacity. He said last night that he brought back car manufacture. That is not true, he damaged industry. He said last night that it was automation that drove out jobs, no it is not, automation is the same everywhere. He drove them out by taxing the daylights out or energy and coal. Every move he made appears to be for the benefit of people living outside the US. He was the president for the world minus the US.
Sore loser, I think. His biggest mistake was crossing swords with Putin.
According to Mea Maria Pope, Barrak Obama is actually Barry Soetoro , a gay drug taker from abroad who lived off gay prostitution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy2K5SIuK2E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEB-jl4DDhU
Is this true?
have your say