Exactly
nine days to the end of his term as president of the United States of America,
Barack Obama,
his wife, Michelle and first daughter, Sasha on Tuesday Night addressed
the people of America from Chicago. Tears flowed freely as the first ever
African American President of the United States bade the people good bye in one
of the most emotional speeches in history.
"If
there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all
things are possible...who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight
is your answer," These were his exact words in Chicago in 2008 after
winning the presidential election.
Born
in Hawaii, to a Kenyan father who was a foreign student on scholarship and English
mother, Obama once recalled that his father looked nothing like the people
around him as he (his father) was as black as pitch and his mother as white as
milk.
Obama
lost his father in an automobile crash in Kenya in 1982 and his mother to ovarian
and uterine cancer in 1995.
Obama
met Michelle Robinson in 1989 when he was working as a summer associate at the
Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. By October of 1992, they were married and had
their first daughter Malia, in 1998.
In
December 2007, money estimated
the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million. Their 2009 tax return showed
a household income of $5.5 million—up from about $4.2 million in 2007
and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books. On his 2010
income of $1.7 million, he gave 14% to non-profit organizations, including
$131,000 to Fischer house foundation a charity assisting wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near
where the veteran is receiving medical treatments. As per his 2012
financial disclosure, Obama may be worth as much as $10 million.
Unlike
Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and so many others before him, this is a president
unblemished by scandal.
The
president acted presidential even behind closed doors: even his closest aides
fail to recall moments when Mr Obama gave way to roiling anger. Emotions have
rarely muddled the academic rigor of his mind.
White
House staffers have nicknamed him the 'Colombo president', after the famous
television detective who always catches the killer with his questions.
Mr
Obama has been criticised by African American communities for failing to address
race issues in the country during his time in office.
But
in these final moments, he warned of racism as a poison to democracy. He called
on African Americans and other minorities to tie their “own struggles for
justice" to the challenges that a lot of people in this country face –
including the middle-aged white man who "may seem like he’s got all the
advantages, but who’s seen his world upended by economic, cultural, and
technological change".
And
he called on white Americans to acknowledge that "the effects of slavery
and Jim Crow didn’t suddenly vanish in the ‘60s".
Mr
Obama may have done all he could to help the peaceful transition of power to
the president-elect, but he became emotional as he prepared to pass the baton
of the country he loved to a man whom he does not trust.
He
became urgent, a tear in his eye, as he talked of needing to "guard
against a weakening of the values that make us who we are".
Brushing
away tears with a handkerchief, Mr Obama paid tribute to the sacrifices made by
his wife - and by his daughters, who were young girls when they entered the big
white home on Pennsylvania Avenue and leave as young women.
He praised first lady
Michelle Obama for taking on her role "with grace and grit and style and
good humour" and for making the White House "a place that belongs to
everybody."
As he prepared to step away
from the stage one final time he seemed to be passing on the stewardship of
America not to Mr Trump, but to the nation's people.
God bless America.
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