Thank you! Thank you everybody!
(Applause)
Thank you!
(More standing ovations)
Thank you, it's good to be home!
We're on live tv, I gotta move!
The President shows his trademark smile as the
20000 people in attendance that night continue the applause.
You can tell that I am lame duck, because nobody is following
instructions.
Everybody have a seat.
My fellow Americans,
Michele and I had been so touched by all the well wishes that
we received over the past few weeks. But, tonight, tonight it's
my turn to say thanks. Whether we have seen eye to eye, or rarely
agreed at all, my conversations with you, the American people, in
living rooms and in schools, on farms and factory floors, at diners
and on distant military outposts.
Those conversations were what that kept me honest, and kept me
inspired, and kept me going. And everyday I have learned from you,
you made me a better President, and you made me a better man.
So, I first came to Chicago when I was in my early twenties, and I
was still trying to figure out who I was, still searching for a
purpose in my life, and it was the neighborhood not far from here
where I began to work with church groups in the shadows of closed
steel mills.
It was on these streets where I witnessed the power of faith, and
the quiet dignity of working people, and the face of struggle, and
loss.
Four more years! Chanted the crowd...
The President -- I can't do that.
This is where I learned that change only happens when ordinary
people get involved, and they get engaged, and they come together
to demand it.
After 8 years as your President I still believe that, and it's not
just my belief. It is the beating heart of our American idea, our
bold experiment in self-government.
It's the conviction that we are all created equal. Endowed by our
creator with certain unalienable rights. Among them, life, liberty,
and the persuit of happiness.
It's the insistance that these rights while self-evident, have never
been self-executing. That we, the people, through the instrument of
our democracy, can form a more perfect union.
What a radical idea!
The great gift that our founders gave to us. The freedom to chase our
individual dreams, through our sweat and toil, and imagination, and
the imperative to strive together as well, to achieve a common goal,
a greater goal.
For 240 years our nation's call to citizenship has given work and
purpose to each new generation. That's what led patriots to choose
republic over tyranny, pioneers to trek West, slaves to brave that
makeshift railroad to freedom. It's what pulled immigrants and
refugees to cross Oceans and the Rio Grande. It's what pushed women
to reach for the ballot. It's what powered workers to organize. It's
why GI's gave their lives on Omaha Beach and Iwojima, Irak and
Afghanistan, and why men and women from Selma to Stonewall were
prepared to give theirs as well.
So, that's what we mean when we say America is exceptional. Not that
our nation has been flawless from the start; but that we have shown
the capacity to change and make life better for those who follow.
Yes our progress had been uneven. The work of Democracy had always
been hard. It's always been contentious. Sometimes, its been bloody.
For every two steps forward, it often feels we take one step back.
But the long sweep of America has been defined by forward motion.
A constant widening of our founding creed to embrace all and not
just some.
If I have told you 8 years ago, that America would reverse a great
recession, reboot our auto industry, and unleash the longest stretch
of job creation in our history. If I have told you that we would open
up a new chapter with the Cuban people. Shut down Iran's nuclear
program without firing a shot. Take out the master mind of 911. If
I had told you that we would win marriage equality, secure the right
to health insurance for another 20 million of our fellow citizens.
If I had told you all that, you might have said our sights were set
a little too high. But, that's what we did. That's what you did.
You were the change. You answered people's hopes, and because of you,
by almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it
was when we started...
Transcript by Veritas, see the bottom of the page for the full-version of President Obama's Farewell Address.
