Excerpts From A Powerful Farewell Speech Of President Barrack Obama To The American People

Inspirational, thought provoking, philosophical speech from outgoing American president Mr Barrack Obama. Hate or like him, Obama remains one of the most gifted oratorical leaders in this century. He laced it with charisma, poise, carriage and performance.

I have unfortunately observed that a lot of us due to the fact that we are allergic to reading voluminous materials brought about by mental laziness, we are unlikely to read this rich historical and philosophical speech. Consequently, I decided to serve you with excerpts of the speech.
On progress recorded in the economy and health sectors.

.... " And the good news is that today the economy is growing again. Wages, incomes, home values and retirement accounts are all rising again. Poverty is falling again. The wealthy are paying taxes. Even as stock market shatters records, the unemployment rate is near a 10 year low. Health care costs are rising at the lowest rate in 50years. And I have said and I mean it anyone can put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements we have made to our health care system, that covers as many people at less Cost, I will publicly support it."
On success against terrorism.

... " Because of the extraordinary courage of our men and women in uniform. Because of our intelligence officers and law enforcement and diplomats who support our troops no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland these past eight years..our law enforcement agencies are more effective and vigilant than ever. We have taken out tens of thousands of terrorists, including Bin Laden. The global coalition we are leading against ISIS has taken away their leaders and taken away half of their territory. ISIS will be destroyed and no one threatens America will ever be safe. And all who serve or have served- it has been honour of my life time to be your commander- in chief.
On climate change which Trump described as a hoax.

...." Take the challenge of climate change. In just eight years we have halved our dependence on foreign oil, we have doubled our renewable energy, we have led the world to an agreement that ( at) promise to save this planet. But without bolder action, our children won't have time to debate the existence of climate change. They will be busy dealing with its effects. More environmental disasters, more economic disruptions, waves of climate refugees seeking sanctuary. Now we can and should argue about the best approach to solve the problem. But to simply deny the problem not only betrays the essential spirit of this country, the essential spirit of innovation and practical problem solving that guided our forefathers.
On race relations

...." So if we are going to be serious about race going forward, we need to uphold laws against discrimination in hiring and in housing and in education, and criminal justice system. That is what our constitution and highest ideals require. But laws alone won't be enough. Hearts must change. It won't change overnight. Social attitudes often times take generations to change. But if our democracy is to work the way it should in this increasingly diverse nation, then each of us need to try to heed the advice of a great character in American fiction, Atticus Finch, who said " You never really understand a person until you consider from his own point view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
Touching conclusion

Fellow Americans it has been the honour of my life to serve you. I won't stop; in fact I will be right there with you as a citizen, for all my remaining years. But for now whether you are young or whether you are young at heart, I do have one final ask of you as your president- the same thing I asked when you took a chance on me eight years ago. I am asking to believe not in my ability to bring about change but yours. I am asking to hold fast to that faith written in to our founding documents; that idea whispered by slaves and abolitionists; that spirit sung by immigrants and homesteaders and those who march for justice; that creed reaffirmed by those who planted flags from foreign battle fields to the surface of the moon; a creed at the core of every American whose story is not written."

That was vintage Obama. We can go on and on because every paragraph in the speech is a quotable quote. A president with oratory gift, charisma, poise, elegance and matches all these with performance. When shall we in Africa and Nigeria have our Obama. Nobody is perfect: his gay and other obscene legislation that demeaned America's motto in God we trust are minuses. But these are a product of the moral decadence in the American value system. But the essentials of the man have become engraved in the America history and could be summarized thus: Obama an ordinary son of an immigrants from the dark continent of Africa, braced monumental obstacles on his path and and for the first time an inconsequential minority constituting only 14% of the American population miraculously won the presidential election in country of 320m people. And went further to govern the country for eight uninterrupted years and left behind a legacy of performance that revived their comatose economy and brought about fundamental improvements in social, military and other sectors. For the first a lame duck government got 56% approved job rating.

By: Fenny J. Fwa