Obama exits office as he entered it – standing tall

Barack Obama bid farewell to the nation as president in much the same way he embraced America eight years ago when he took the oath of office – with eloquence, grace and an unyielding faith in the greatness of this country and its people.

Indeed, his reaffirmation of the principles of democracy that set us apart from the rest of the world was timely and necessary, given the deep political divisions that exist today stemming from the highly contentious presidential election that saw political newcomer Republican Donald Trump defeat veteran politician Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Even the president’s harshest critics would have to concede – if they’re honest – that when it comes to stirring the soul of this nation, there are few better than Barack Obama.

His address Tuesday night in the cavernous McCormick Place arena in Chicago before a standing-room-only crowd of 20,000 formally capped his historic eight-year tenure as the first African-American leader of the free world.

That speech, much like his first inaugural address in the subzero temperatures on the National Mall eight years ago, fused stirring imagery, apt metaphors and passionate pleas. It rightly included a mixed bag of reminiscences of positive changes his administration delivered to the nation and a strong and selfless appeal to hope and action among all citizens to achieve ongoing progress in the years ahead.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Many of the hopes he enunciated in the 2008 and 2012 campaigns were achieved far beyond many people’s wildest expectations. Nowhere was that more evident than in the stunning gains made in the American economy.

As the president said in his farewell address, “If I had told you eight years ago that America would reverse a great recession, reboot our auto industry, and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our history… you might have said our sights were set a little too high.”

Beyond the economic progress, hopes transformed into realities in ending direct U.S. participation in armed conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan; killing Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks; securing access to health insurance to 20 million formerly uninsured Americans; slowing the Iranian nuclear missile threat, narrowing the gender gap in wages and salaries; and helping to bring about marriage equality for all Americans.

Of course, no presidency can be perfect, and Obama’s tenure included several missteps and dashed hopes. Overzealous expectations, for example, for a “post-racial America” have been thwarted time and time again by racist-oriented violence against blacks and whites alike. Hopes for a more secure nation and world have been torpedoed by the rise of the Islamic State militant group and the inability of the U.S. and the world community to rein in its ongoing Reign of Terror.

Some foreign-policy initiatives under his watch – particularly those targeted toward the Middle East – have gained understandable criticism for their failure to produce constructive and life-saving results. Even his signature legislation – the Affordable Care Act – has received a fair share of legitimate criticism.

On balance, however, most – but certainly not all – Americans are better off than they were on that blustery Inauguration Day in 2009.

Yet over that same period, the nation’s political and social divisions have widened dramatically – as evidenced by the seething political rancor on clear display as Trump prepares to take the oath of office one week from today.

We applaud Obama’s expectations, enunciated so eloquently Tuesday night, that those divisions can be narrowed in coming months and years.

“I am asking you to hold fast to that faith written into our founding documents; that idea whispered by slaves and abolitionists; that spirit sung by immigrants and homesteaders and those who marched for justice; that creed reaffirmed by those who planted flags from foreign battlefields to the surface of the moon; a creed at the core of every American whose story is not written: Yes We Can.”

It is indeed that quintessential can-do American spirit in the face of relentless challenges that may best endure as a defining legacy of the Obama presidency. It is that same spirit that the administration of Donald Trump should embrace at the threshold of a new era in American politics and leadership.