LIVE BLOG – President Obama’s Farewell Speech

President Barack Obama’s Farewell Address

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

McCormick Place, Chicago, IL

9:00pm Jonah:  We are live blogging the final farewell speech of President Obama.  I am joined by Junis Baldon and we are covering the speech with live up to the minute reactions, in real time.

9:04 – Jonah:  Wife tapped out.  Too sad.  Still hasn’t watched Michelle’s farewell speech either.

9:05 – Junis:  He should have come out to Earth Wind & Fire.  P-Funk All-Stars.  Opportunity lost.

9:06 – Jonah:  I would have settled for Stevie.  (Whose not blind, by the way).

9:07 – Jonah: “Change happens when ordinary people get involved…get engaged…”  Or when more stupid people vote than ever before.

9:07 – Junis:  Can’t do four more years.  That whole Twenty-Second Amendment thing.

9:08 – Jonah: Wonder if Junis has some trivia for us on the origin of “the pursuit of happiness”….I could’ve swore we had the right to life, liberty, and PROPERTY.

9:08 – Jonah: It was reported that President Obama reached out to his former speechwriters and advisers to assist with this speech, and that they’ve been preparing these remarks for months.

9:09 – Junis:  I don’t know where you got that from, Jonah.  Declaration of Independence says “and the pursuit of happiness.”

9:10 – Junis:  Obama seems to be at his rhetorical best pretty early.  

9:10 – Jonah:  It’s from John Locke.  The first Continental Congress.   It’s Lockean.

9:11 – Jonah:  Obama now going through the list of his greatest accomplishments, also known as “Trump’s First 100 Day Reversal Agenda”.

9:12 – Jonah:  Obama’s first reference to Trump draws boos from the crowd.   He quickly admonishes the crowd, “Don’t Boo…Vote!”  Wait….

9:12 – Junis:  Exactly.  He just laid out Trump’s agenda. Just think, “Opposite Day.”

9:13 – Junis:  Yeah, that’s over.  More like, “Don’t Boo . . . Pray.”

9: 13 – Jonah: Don’t Boo….Move.

9:14 – Junis:  Don’t Boo . . . Canada.

9:15 – Jonah: God Save the Queen…and all blue states.

9:15 – Jonah:  Obama says the theme for tonight’s address is that democracy does not require uniformity (Julian Castro has a big head).

9:15 – Junis:  What is the point of this speech?  I heard it was supposed to be more like a rally cry for progressives and liberals.  

9:15 – Junis:  MSNBC’s clock is slow.  It’s like two minutes behind.  

9:15 – Jonah:  Rallying cry?  More like a wake for the Democratic Party.

9:16 – Junis:  If you voted for Trump, how much of this do you believe?

9:16 – Jonah: The real theme of this speech – “Hillary….you had ONE job to do…”

9:16 – Jonah: If you voted for Trump, are you even watching this?   

9:17 – Junis:  You’re probably watching reruns of the Alabama-Clemson game.

9:18 – Junis:  Or reruns of UFC 168 on Fox Sports 1.

9:18 – Jonah:  I may be the cynic that Obama is referring to, but this speech is starting to feel like a lot of preaching to the choir.   I don’t know that even HE has quite figured out how to be persuasive to those for whom facts and black lives no longer matter.

9:19 – Junis:  Of course, this is preaching to the choir.  If there’s no choir to preach to, then Obama has lost it all.  But the goal of this speech is to galvanize folks.  

9:20 – Junis:  Oooooohhhhh, race talk.  I must listen.  

9:20 – Jonah:  Obama says the second threat to our democracy is the mistaken belief that we are in a post-racial America.   

9:21 – Junis:  I’m almost disappointed that he’s waited this long to address the meaning of a post-racial America.  I almost feel like those words should have been said by him seven years ago.

9:22 – Jonah:  Obama is talking about racial policy but the laws alone won’t be enough…Oh wait, nevermind, he’s making that point too.   I’m impatient.

9:22 – Jonah:  Atticus Finch is fake news.

9: 22 – Jonah:  This hearkens back to his More Perfect Union Speech in Philadelphia when he tried to not disavow Rev. Jeremiah Wright.   (see also: The Less Perfect Sequel to the More Perfect Union – “I don’t know that n***a”)

9:25 – Junis:  This is the kind of unifying class-focused speech that should have outline Obama’s presidency throughout.  I’m actually sort of disappointed.  

9:25 – Jonah: He’s being generous in saying that our fellow Americans love the country as much as we do.  (see also: Fox News.)  (see also: Russia).  (See also: Morning Joe).  (see also: Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin…you get the picture).

9:26 – Junis:  Does this remind you of potential squandered?  Maybe not by Obama, but in our politics generally?

9:26 – Jonah:  It does.   The promise, or better, the hope of a President Obama was in the potential of his leadership, but we all would have to play a role.  We all had to commit to the conversation, to the difficult work of racial and political reconciliation.   But we all retreated to our sides, and within days of his taking office, all was lost.

9:27 – Junis:  Well, I’m being naive.  The exacerbation of the class divide makes for good politics.

9:28 – Junis:  Do you think Obama learned from watching Bernie Sanders?  This sounds like a more sophisticated populist Sanders stump speech.  

9:28: – Jonah:  NO.  Are we Obama sycophants?

9:29 – Junis:  Don’t believe in climate change?  Think about outside.  It’s 20 degrees in Washington.  Thursday, it will be 60 degrees.  Go figure.  

9:30 – Junis:  No, I’m not an Obama sycophant.  I’m pretty critical of him, and I’m not really liking this speech very much.  

9:31 – Jonah: ↑↑ Junis Anne Conway.

9:31 – Junis:  I’m not trying to be contrarian.  I’m just looking at this speech and thinking why these principles didn’t guide his presidency throughout.  He’s articulating the problem with American politics very well tonight, I just don’t understand why he couldn’t do that over the last seven years.  

9:32 – Jonah:  Perhaps, he, like me, was naive in thinking that it couldn’t have been THAT bad…that our politics would be so incredibly corrupted that we would actually elect someone like Trump.  He might have given this speech everyday for the last 8 years if he knew this is what we were potentially facing.   

9:33 – Jonah: Obligatory Military Applause.   Remember what Trump said about military vets that aren’t that good at their job and get captured?  He doesn’t like them.

9:34 – Junis:  Wasn’t that comment about John McCain?  What sweet revenge it would be if he could pick off Tillerson in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

9:35 – Jonah:  SERIOUSLY.  Trump took the worst thing about John McCain’s entire life (except Sarah Palin)…and said that he doesn’t like him because of it.

9:36 – Jonah:  Who should Americans be more afraid of?   ISIL or Donald Trump?

9:36 – Jonah: “Our democracy is compromised when we take it for granted”.  That’s his polite way of blaming black folk.

9:37 – Junis:  Is this a summary of Obama’s post-presidency focus?  

9:37 – Jonah:  Is he really going to end this speech on campaign finance reform?  Crowd boos as he says he’s making his final point.

9:38 – Junis:  I hope not.  And I don’t think he’s blaming black folk for not voting.  I thought it was more about making it easier to vote, and not manipulating the democratic process.  

9:39 – Jonah: It was.  I was making a joke.  ↑↑ Junis Anne Conway.

9:39 – Jonah:  Donald Trump will NEVER give a speech a quarter as good as this.

9:40 – Junis:  We would still have three more hours of Donald Trump speaking left at this point.  Then TWEETS!!!

9:41 – Jonah: He’s telling a room full of progressives and minorities not to be divisive.

9:41 – Jonah:  What do you think Donald Trump is thinking right now?  You think deep down, he’s intimidated?

9:42 – Junis:  He’s not thinking.  He’s TWEETING.  

9:42 – Jonah: “If you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the internet, then try talking to them in real life.”  *Heads to the nearby pond to look for and talk to Pepe the Frog*

9:43 – Jonah:  Obama encouraging a room full of unqualified people to get involved and run for office.  Isn’t that how we got in this mess in the first place?

9:44 – Jonah:  If you look back at how Obama made fun of Trump at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, which many of Trump’s inner circle have confirmed was a large part of his motivation to run – shouldn’t we blame Obama for Trump?

9:45 – Junis:  Phil Bailey from The Courier-Journal just tweeted that Alison Lundergran Grimes just “acknowledg[ed] @BarackObama for the first time I can recall–ever.”  

9:45 – Jonah:  No comment.

9:46 – Junis:  People have been asking Trump if he was going to run since “The Art of the Deal.”  

9:46 – Jonah: Michelle is bae.  

9:46 – Jonah:  The older Obama daughter needs to stay away from the BET Awards crowd.

9:46 – Junis:  The media fed into Trump’s presidential ambitions.

9:47 – Junis:  So no, I don’t blame Obama for Trump.  

9:47 – Jonah:  Obama now heaping much-deserved praise on Michelle Obama for all that she has done for the country, and for him.   

9:48 – Junis:  How long before Michelle O’s garden gets removed by Ivanka?  

9:48 – Jonah:  He’s now thanking his daughters.  Who else will get a shoutout before the night is over.  Joe?  David Plouffe?  David Mustachelrod?  Van Jones?

9:48 – Junis:  Malia is crying.  Great touching moment there.  

9:49 – Junis:  Man, I wished Joe Biden would have ran.  The Biden Memes were like the best thing of the campaign season.  

9:49  – Jonah: The Joe Biden memes got many Americans through November….

9:50 – Junis:  Where’s Sasha?  

9:51 – Jonah: Probably at the BET awards somewhere….

9:52 – Jonah: President Obama now thanking his supporters, his voters.  He means only those supporters who voted for him and then didn’t betray him by voting for Trump.  Jerks.

9:52 – Junis:  Now, the speech is running a little long.  

9:52 – Jonah: Shut up.  The next four years are about to run long.

9:52 – Junis:  Here’s what I want to hear.  What is he going to do post-presidency?  

9:53 – Junis:  In the words of Conspiracy Brother from “Undercover Brother,” “It’s gonna be revolution up in this, b*tch.”

9:53 – Jonah:  Obama now hearkening back to the original mantra that got him here – Yes We Can. It’s now the theme of survival for the next four years – Yes We Can.   Booker 2020.

9:55 – Junis:  Not Cory.  I like Sherrod Brown’s chances in 2020.  I heard someone mention Gillibrand.  No to that either.  

9:55 – Jonah: This was a good speech.  Certainly not the hallmark speech of his presidency.  It will be more memorable, more emotional because of the historical context – the beginning of the last days.  Not his last days…..THE last days.  

9:55 – Jonah:  This would be a great Sorkin-esque episode in the television drama “America: The Final Season”

9:56 – Junis:  Lol.  We’ll make it.  I thought the speech was workman-like.  Never reached Obama’s best rhetorical heights.  There were a few good lines.  The first third of the speech was hitting the right notes, the rest was kind of benign, relatively non-partisan.

9:59 – Junis:  And now for the talking heads.  
10:00 – Jonah: That’s the one hour mark.  This has been fun.  Thank you all for tuning in to the live blog of President Obama’s Farewell Speech.