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OBAMA FAREWELL SPEECH, OR CITIZENSHIP CLASS

January 11, 2017 by
obama farewell speech

image via www.constitutionus.com

President Obama farewell speech a study in civics.

 

At the crossroads of history, President Obama gave his last big goodbye.

The heart of his farewell? The Constitution.

You’d expect different from a Constitution scholar with twelve years in the classroom?

Like a great politician, a showman for the ages, he did it in Chicago where he taught, where he announced his presidential plans in 2008.

Doesn’t 2008 sound like long ago and far away?

There he stood saying goodbye, cheered and celebrated, rooted on and urged. And aged.

2008 was a long time ago

How does anyone without a guitar, or bible, in their hands stand in front of a crowd screaming their approval?

The Obama farewell speech showed how.

This President, like others did before, and others will after, traveled the world for face-time with every dirt bag dictator, pretentious president, and pugnacious premier.

He gave them the best game face of any U.S President, the Chicago game face.

In a city legendary for Da Bulls, and Da Bears, when they were good, and the Cubs now, Obama knows game face.

Along with the game face, an ancient voice came to life and peeled back the meaning of citizenship.

That voice sounded off in the Obama farewell speech

Yes, I’m talking about Pericles’ funeral oration from the Peloponnesian War. But you knew that.

This famous speech was given by the Athenian leader Pericles after the first battles of the Peloponnesian war. Funerals after such battles were public rituals and Pericles used the occasion to make a classic statement of the value of democracy.

“Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration favours the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition.

“The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbour for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those injurious looks which cannot fail to be offensive, although they inflict no positive penalty.

“But all this ease in our private relations does not make us lawless as citizens. Against this fear is our chief safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws, particularly such as regard the protection of the injured, whether they are actually on the statute book, or belong to that code which, although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace.”

You see, the Obama farewell speech isn’t the first reminding people about being better citizens.

Even though it’s common thread traces back to the origins of democracy, he brought it forward.

And it was a beautiful thing.

“We can,” Candidate Obama said.

“We did,” said President Obama at his farewell speech.

Somehow he forgot the last part, or one of the speech writers missed it:

“We shall.”

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About David Gillaspie

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Comments

  1. Tonya Russo Hamilton says
    January 11, 2017 at 11:09 am

    And we shall! Thank you David!

    • David Gillaspie says
      January 11, 2017 at 11:33 am

      Thanks for coming in, Tonya.

      Here’s an odd comparison: A President who understands what it means to be considered less than American shows what it means to be all-American. He shows his best side, but to those who’ve choked down disappointment and bitterness to show a better side, President Obama sparkled. Who does this sort of tough stuff?

      Bring in President Eisenhower. The one-time Supreme Allied Commander, former President of Columbia University, and two term Republican President warned against the Military – Industrial Complex in his farewell address. This was a man dependent on the military-industrial complex to defeat America’s WWII enemies. Was he biting the hand that delivered victory, or asking us to be better citizens?

      The fifties history shows more than commonly discussed. Eisenhower wasn’t the do-nothing President he’s been portrayed as. I haven’t seen it yet, but an Obama – Eisenhower connection will be a history discussion in the near future. At least according to this fortune teller blogger.

  2. Mark Mullins says
    January 12, 2017 at 1:57 pm

    Yeah !! Well said on all counts, by all those who said it.

    • David Gillaspie says
      January 13, 2017 at 8:20 am

      The people who hear President Obama talk and afterwards complain about how he seems to be ‘talking down’ to them are missing a big part of who the man is.

      1. He’s the guy who changed from where he came from to where he is. Instead of bringing his original vocabulary to the lectern, he brings his education. If you make it to, and through, Harvard Law, and aced it along the way, you’ve earned the right to whip out that Ivy League style.

      2. If you spent twelve years in the classroom explaining concepts and ideas to bright students, trying to keep one step ahead of them, you need that Ivy League armor.

      3. The kicker: If you’ve spent a lifetime feeling too cool for school, or too culturally deprived based on where you come from, and hear Obama, he might as well be speaking a foreign tongue.

      For instance, the grandpa on my dad’s side believed any school past the eighth grade is a waste of time, only useful for people afraid to go to work. His idea of work was living in a company town and working in the woods with everyone in town. Does that frighten anyone? If you know loggers, it should.

      My dad was one of those ‘first in the family’ guys who graduated from college. His dad was so adamant in his education beliefs that he skipped the ceremony to make his point. At least that’s the legend, and why we only have pictures of Grandma at the ceremony.

      Obama isn’t afraid to show his bonafides. Why would anyone be afraid of them?

      Last point. I met an Army sniper who explained the job and the people. Comes from this post: https://www.boomerpdx.com/learn-the-tools-then-the-gun/

      “You like guns?”

      “Believe it or not, the gun is the last thing. Some people shouldn’t have guns. The training and handling we did to get close to a gun feels about right, but anyone else can go to the store and pick one up? It’s all about the training. We had a guy in the cycle, a black guy from South Central, a gangbanger. We got together in different places later. This guy turned out better than most.”

      “Better than you?”

      “Close. I’ve got a brain to finger connection you can’t teach. We got together with other guys from our cycle and we asked the guy from LA to hold his pistol sideways like the old days. The guy is a former street thug, now he’s a sniper. He wouldn’t lay his piece over. We said we knew that’s how he used to do it. Not anymore. He wouldn’t do it. That’s the sort of training that sinks a hook in a man.”

      Training eliminates certain behavior in people who take to it. If you spend the time and money to learn something, why not pass it down? Seems like an obligation, a duty, and Obama did his duty.