Goodbye Mr. President

I have been at times a vocal critic of President Obama.  It still frosts my cookies that Guantanamo isn’t closed, and let’s not even start talking about the state of our civil liberties, the drone strikes, and blah blah blah.

But last night’s speech?  Nothing short of amazing — one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard or read or seen or felt.

If you saw it and you don’t think it was amazing, I’d like to know why.  Please tell me the comments below.  If you didn’t see it, check out some of these quotes or watch it on YouTube.  It’s message of self-reliance, self-reflection and personal responsibility was perfect.

Although he’s a long way from being a out of the public eye, the closer he gets to the hallowed halls of history the better and sharper he looks.  They say it takes many years to fully understand the legacy of a president.  I suspect he may go down in history as one of our greatest.

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“Ultimately, that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you. Not just when there’s an election, not just when your own narrow interest is at stake, but over the full span of a lifetime. If you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the internet, try to talk with one in real life. If something needs fixing, lace up your shoes and do some organizing. If you’re disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself. Show up. Dive in. Persevere.”

“It falls to each of us to be those anxious, jealous guardians of our democracy; to embrace the joyous task we’ve been given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours. Because for all our outward differences, we all share the same proud title: Citizen.”

“For too many of us, it’s become safer to retreat into our own bubbles, whether in our neighborhoods or college campuses or places of worship or our social media feeds, surrounded by people who look like us and share the same political outlook and never challenge our assumptions.”

“Change only happens when ordinary people get involved, get engaged, and come together to demand it.”

“Understand, democracy does not require uniformity. Our founders quarreled and compromised, and expected us to do the same. But they knew that democracy does require a basic sense of solidarity—the idea that for all our outward differences, we are all in this together; that we rise or fall as one.”