An Unremarkable End to a Remarkable Presidency
On Jan. 10, Barack Obama delivered his final speech as president in Chicago, Illinois. While it was by no means a bad speech, it was a mediocre end to a presidency that made history. In his farewell address, Obama touched upon themes of solidarity, the preservation of democracy and his unwavering belief in the American people. However, his imploration for unity and empathy may have been too little, too late.
In his speech, Obama spoke a lot about the past and the ways in which America has progressed over the last four years. While his achievements are worthy of praise, he struggled to reconcile them with the main aim of his address. He also mentioned threats to America like ISIS and authoritarian countries, but did not link them with the work that has yet to be done and the innate integrity of America that he described. He brought a lot of difficult topics to the table like race, immigration and partisanship, but none of them seemed to be clearly defined.
As someone who has replayed the video of Obama as the keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention numerous times, his farewell address came off as somewhat bland and generic to me. In his speeches, faith and hope are major themes that recur. After Obama’s victory at the 2008 Iowa Caucus, he said, in his speech, “Hope is the bedrock of this nation.” At the 2014 United Nations General Assembly, Obama stated, “We choose hope over fear.” He ended his final address on a very familiar note—asking for the American public to “hold fast to that faith written into our founding documents” and to believe in “a creed at the core of every American whose story is not yet written.”
Although the topics discussed in his 2004 speech and his final speech were similar, the circumstances in 2016 were far different than in 2004, and that itself begged a new, electrifying speech about our current issues rather than a recycled one. Recently, more and more politicians are coming to the conclusion that Russia utilized cyber attacks to sway the outcome of the presidential election. One of those politicians is Rex Tillerson, Trump’s pick for Secretary of State. On the same day as Obama’s last address, Senator Jeff Sessions faced the Senate Judiciary Committee as Trump’s pick for attorney general. As a former lawyer who prosecuted civil rights organizers, called the Voting Rights Act “intrusive” and voted against every single immigration reform bill, having Sessions as attorney general is a frightening prospect. These events not only show how different our current affairs are, but how they can also predict the political climate.
In his final speech to the millions of people listening, Obama should have better tied issues and points together to form a bigger idea. He also should have addressed issues that are more pertinent to our current times and struggles over reiterating general values and beliefs that worked twelve years ago, but sounds increasingly dull and empty in the face of a Trump presidency. The same message simply doesn’t work anymore. He should have rooted his speech in his fundamental beliefs and faith in this country, but also spoken truthfully about challenges that all people will face after the inauguration—the future that many of us are dreading.