President Barack Obama’s televised farewell speech on Tuesday night leaned on the same sentiments he campaigned on for the presidency, telling Americans “Yes we can” and “Yes we did.”
Obama took his last Air Force One flight when he flew to his hometown of Chicago to give his last speech as the country’s 44th president, reported The Associated Press.
In the speech, Obama took Americans down his memory lane of how he saw events transpiring across the country from the time that he took office in 2008 to the present.
While the speech was commanding at times, it was also emotional, especially in his closing remarks in which he had personal messages for his wife Michelle, his children, and Vice President Joe Biden and his wife.
“You have been my best friend,” Obama said to the first lady as he teared up, according to CBS News. “You took on a role you didn’t ask for and you made it your own.”
“Under the strangest of circumstances, you have become two amazing young women, smart and beautiful, but more importantly, kind and thoughtful and full of passion,” he said about his daughters, Malia and Sasha.
“You were the first choice I made as a nominee, and the best,” he said to Biden. “Not just because you have been a great vice president, but because in the bargain, I gained a brother.”
“My fellow Americans, it has been the honor of my life to serve you,” Obama said in his closing remarks.
Obama did make it clear that his eight years in the White House was far from easy and imperfect.
“Yes, our progress has been uneven,” Obama said, per the AP. “The work of democracy has always been hard, contentious and sometimes bloody. For every two steps forward, it often feels we take one step back.”
Obama highlighted some of his accomplishments, placing a focus on the jobs he said he created and his signing of the Affordable Care Act bill, noted CBS News.
Obama ended the speech by asking the American people for one more favor as their president, according to ABC News.
“For now, whether you’re young or young at heart, I do have one final ask of you as your resident – the same thing I asked when you took a chance on me eight years ago,” he said. “I am asking you to believe. Not in my ability to bring about change – but in yours,” he said, adding his slogan, “Yes we can. Yes we did. Yes we can.”
There were tons of reactions from people on Twitter.