141 Responses to “President Obama’s Final Farewell Address”
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The Obama Diary 
God speed Mr President and Mrs Obama.
Best wishes. Can’t wait to see what they are going to do after their vacation and much needed rest.
Godspeed indeed. We are still here.
Thank God they arrived safely. I will not be putting “former” in front of his name ever.
nope me either nor president in front of that other person.
In our Koch satellite state of Indiana all our GOP reps are Tea Party types now and so I think of them as part of this fascism. They all send the same emails out to their constituents. Identical like the Koch’s have always functioned. Send the memo and spread the ideas. I can’t stand even having these in my inbox now. One new thing they are doing is putting in laws very rapidly to criminalize aspects of large demonstrations and this seems to be being presented in at least five other states. I am old enough to remember the anti war protests of the Vietnam war and the civil rights era crack downs.
One thing I felt good about was hearing Rev. Barber call out the Koch brothers specifically in a recent interview. Their style of fascism is what we are about to see on a national level. Their style is John Birch Society style. I am so glad to have worked with OFA and learned how to use good against evil, which I believe is the only way one can overcome it, because there is a great upheaval coming and I want to be able to use the tools of good going forward.
Thank you, JER. I can relax now that they have landed.
Check out (and sign!) the first 2 petitions on WH.gov 🙂 Gee, wonder if we sign it will he send his goons after us!??
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/
As sensitive and unstable Trump is, I would not sign anything on WH website 😳
LOL…no worries…It was broken:) Go figure:)
GE DF.
I wonder what it’s like teaching American history to students these days, after what this nation did to itself in November.
Do you have any colleagues who mention what it’s like since November?
I am teaching 8th graders right now. It’s not easy as I’m in a huge republican district represented by Ted Lieu from the House and Kamala Harris from the Senate. I managed not to show the inauguration as I was giving a test.
This wil most likely go away. Only he can fix everything.
A Class Act
I look forward to the next chapter ❤️
HEADS UP: Go back and check to ensure that you have unfollowed the POTUS, FLOTUS, PressSec, White House twitter accounts because if you hit unfollow earlier today, it has been reversed. So go unfollow again.
Good advice NW, thanks!
Thanks. Sure enough mine had been reversed.
mine too..
Thanks NW!
I checked these accounts at 9:01 am PST, and they indicated I wasn’t following — now Twitter said I was following, so I quickly unfollowed.
@POTUS now says it has 14 million followers — I’m pretty sure that before today it had more than that, so don’t know what’s going on with that…
OMG. Thank you for letting us know. I, too, got caught up in that scam. Now I have to disinfect my brain and eyes.
Thank you kindly, my lady NW; mine had indeed been reversed. Guess we’re all going to have to keep our eyes and ears open re social media shenanigans.
Done and done one more time — even though I did last night.
Thanks!!
I unfollowed, but they refollowed me. I had to go back and do it again.
Thank you. I just went on and unfollowed POTUS and FLOTUS again. Thanks for the heads up.
got it NW, will check it out.
I unfollowed and blocked them and they all appear to be blocked
How is it that I agree with Jennifer Rubin??
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/01/20/trumps-america-is-a-rotten-place/?utm_term=.f19c4a354446
I think it’s in that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” category. Ugh.
Hmmm. Me too. Every word. Even shared on Facebook. Mentioned that she is a conservative and I agree with her. Want to bet none of my conservative friends will read it.
I like it:)
❤❤❤❤❤
Hey folks, just an fyi… recheck on twitter and make sure you’re not following potus flotus et al. I unfollowed early today.. and a few minutes got a tweet from that twit- uknowho.. apparently not the only one.. somehow they put us back to following.
I love to hear his voice. Like a warm blanket.
Classic:)
Off to bed. Trying to come down with a cold….I feel it. Glad we still have this sanctuary and each other:)
….. and watch the expressions of the male Pres. WJC & GWB;
…. ghe even mrs. evil-to-core vader (aka DC) is smiling
I have a digital process question: How do I remove whitehouse.gov from the blog roll? That and the other white house sites? I’ve tried everything I know to do. I cannot find an unsubscribe place. I like using the blog roll, so I’d like to get rid of those without having to delete the entire blog roll…….I know people here can help me. thanks in advance.
Inauguration night update:
As much of an uninformed, slow-witted monster DJT is, uncivility doesn’t help matters, IMHO.
Beautiful, Nerdy. Absolutely beautiful post ❤
Now, THAT’s a keeper.
❤🙏🏻🌹🙏🏻❤
Good afternoon Obamadons
I know it’s easy to click on the blogs in the right-hand column here, but I often forget to do so. In case you missed reading it today, here’s a link to Greg Sargent’s letter to his conservative friends. Well worth reading, and sharing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/01/20/a-liberals-letter-to-conservatives-on-the-occasion-of-trumps-inauguration/?utm_source=rss_plum-line
Thanks, Susane. It was authored by Paul Waldman, and here’s a tweet if anyone wants to pass it on *after* reading it.
thanks for twitterfying it vick 🙂
my pleasure, S
Thrilled to BITS with my personalized email letter from The Obama Foundation, which I had joined long ago, when they first invited us! I AM IN!!
And IN for the long walk, not just a stroll in the park. Can barely stand the hooha over on FB, am busily Unliking a whole bunch of things showing the BrainDeadWalking with that stupid look on his face as if he can’t see or think or feel. We must all be very strong and unflinching. You’d be proud I didn’t take strips off some stupid eff’er who posted the entire country in red, stating DT is pres of ALL the states whether we like it or not. Huh. Just like they said when We The People elected PBO, back in 2009. Yeah, just like that. Done.
Feeling the same, Pamela. Just checked my FB feed, and one ex-sister-in-law wrote: how refreshing that women can be women again! I can’t even begin to parse that statement, but it was in response to one of her friends’ post about the loveliness of Melania. So far beyond just stupid and unconscious– the racism is dripping off every word. The good news is, she also posted a piece welcoming the new president, and stating ‘like and share if you agree!’. I mention this because there were zero likes and zero shares. So I might just not unfriend her, purely for the entertainment of watching her chosen one derail before her eyes. Yes, I’m feeling that ugly today.
Good for you, MP!
Have decided personally that I’m not going to say “he’s not my president.” I’m going to say there is no president. That the last President was Barack H. Obama, Esq., Citizen, #44. And we still hang on HIS every word.
Thanks, JER for the updates on PBO’s flight detour.
Today was such an emotionally wrenching day, am so sorry the First Family’s first day as private citizens in 8 years has been such a long one for them. 😦
Looks like he’s still got plenty of company on the road in Cali:
Actually, my President Obama will only have secret service for 10 years. Presidents before 1997 have longer secret service.
GE COS.
Thought there was a limit, but did a Google search, and it looks like PBO changed that limitation in 2013:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/10/obama-signs-bill-gets-secret-service-protection-for-life/
From the article, Jan 10, 2013:
“Obama signs bill, gets Secret Service protection for life
With the stroke of a pen Thursday, President Barack Obama gave himself and his wife Secret Service protection for the rest of their lives.
The new law, which passed the House and Senate in December, designates that all former U.S. presidents who served after January 1, 1997, along with their spouses, receive protection from the Secret Service for their entire lifetimes – meaning former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura are also covered. The law also stipulates that children of presidents receive protection until the age of 16.
Lifetime government-provided security for former presidents was the law of the land until 1997, when Congress passed legislation limiting Secret Service protection to ten years after leaving office.”
Wonderful!!!!
https://mobile.twitter.com/leahmcelrath/status/822626159708033026
GE FFTX.
Just the beginning of the autocratic rule the enfeebled idiot oligarch is imposing.
The tweet you posted:
Here’s another (basically the same):
Earlier today:
And so it begins. A president acting like a dictator to control all information that is critical or that simply tells the truth. His first act even before being sworn in was to summon the media heads to his gold-encrusted tower to castigate them. Well they are largely responsible for where this would-be dictator is today. Will they go all out against them as he limits their access or will they continue to lick his boots?
this group of scumbags is very petty!
now even those who had not previously paid attention to the crowd size will get to hear about it.
it is going to be a bumpy ride
More thoughts on ramifications of silencing @Interior department tweets downthread, in response to Meta.
Nice backstory to what happened before and after PBO’s final speech to his staff at Joint Base Andrews today (the video on the main page of this thread), and how PBO, FLOTUS, the Bidens and staff spent last night:
And these, from this event:
They must be exhausted–just wrung out. Hoping they have a good, uninterrupted night’s sleep.
Neither one of them will have to get up early in the morning, they can both sleep in.
Personally, I’d think they rested on the plane and are now partying in California! But that’s just my guess!
LOLz!! RIGHT ON, Sistah!! I can hear those corks popping all the way up here!!
Wish we were there! I’d be laughing and laughing! And telling you, “You’d better slow down a little, meta! You have to drive me back to the hotel.”
Hhahahahhahhaaa! Nah, you’re not going anywhere!!
I’m guessing there will be lots of laughter, more than a few sighs and some tears tonight in Palm Springs. They’ll hold each other tight , dream heavy dreams and wake up to some glorious mountain scapes. Deep breathing all week.
Love that thought. I am so very, very happy for them. It’s one of the things that’ll keep us going! As he told his staff, something like, “It’s not a period; it’s a comma.”
Have you seen this thread? Beautiful.
Update on PBO in Rancho Mirage (yay! First Family can NOW relax! — it’s just after 8pm on the west coast, but 11pm for their internal body clocks, after an early rise and emotionally grueling day — our dear FLOTUS being pawed by the DIC (deplorable-in-chief), ugh).
First, their early day begins:
And within the last hour, 3 time zones away (this made me laugh):
I like your designation for DT– DIC. Says it all. 🙂
Me too. That’s perfect.
OMG. Got the sound off, but just spotted Trump dancing with a female member of the military at the military ball … it was like your friend’s ugly-ass drunken great uncle approaching you at the neighborhood picnic. Now I have to get that picture out of my head.
Sorry – shouldn’t have shared that with people who are probably lucky and smart enough NOT to have that picture in their heads!
Not really laughing at Bush after today, but at least this is distracting.
Well, his parents are in the hospital, so yes, I will lighten up for now. I’ll just say, isn’t it amazing and wondrous and beautiful how PBO sits in dignity and contemplation regardless of rain, regardless of having rows of scary idiots behind him, and regardless of having to watch the scariest and most idiotic of them all take the oath of office as he departs? We expect no less of him, because that’s who he is, to the core. The fool behind him, with the tarp problem– not worth his notice.
Well said. ❤
OMG, this a MILLION times. I have never witnessed anyone so grounded, so focused, so still.
Sorry:) He can’t wrestle himself out of a plastic bag…just popped into my head.
LMAO.
Sorry, one more tweet on the First Family’s arrival in Rancho Mirage.
Really nice article, even interviewed one woman from Phoenix who wanted to see PBO, but of course couldn’t since the First Family didn’t land at the Palm Springs airport. 😦
“Even as the rain poured, onlookers waited under the cover of umbrellas and raincoats near the airport to watch the former president arrive in Palm Springs. Roughly two dozen people hid under the eaves of the Palm Springs Air Museum adjacent to the airport for nearly two hours, waiting to glimpse the former president and first lady. A staff member at the museum said they had received more phone calls about Obama’s arrival on Friday than any other time he visited the valley during his presidency.”
For Desertflower, interview with woman from Phoenix:
“One of those onlookers, Susan Walker from Phoenix, said she was excited to see the Obamas, whom she called ‘fabulous people,’ arrive at the airport after a ‘tough day’ for many Americans.
‘I think they’re people to look up to and respect and I think Michelle is the most amazing woman we’ve ever had in the White House,’ said Walker, who has a 21-year-old daughter. ‘She’s the kind of woman I want my daughter to grow up to be.'”
For Meta, interview with woman from San Francisco:
“Nadine Briggs, who was flying to San Francisco, said she was thrilled to find out the Obamas were scheduled to fly into Palm Springs during the week she was staying in the valley.
‘I just wanna hug them and say thank you,’ she said. ‘What a way to go out. They’re so classy.’”
Article has more heartwarming interviews with (disappointed) supporters.
Nothing to be “sorry” about! These were wonderful. Thanks!
Decency. DECENCY. Now? We go with NO DECENCY??
THAT=NO MORE AMERICA.
Awww…
Love that. More, please.
As usual, still catching up, but if you’ve got some time tomorrow and want to view WaPo articles, that’s the day to do it:
I spent the day with close friends. It was a bit cold and rainy off and on and I wore my coat. I have a pin that I bought at the DNC in 2008 when PBO was nominated. It’s a rectangle pin of the iconic Shepard Fairey HOPE poster and I pinned it to my lapel. Well, I can’t tell how many people came up to me and thanked me for wearing that pin, said it made them happy, brought back HOPE on such a sad day. Old, young and in between, people just walked up to me and expressed their raw emotions. We walked all over the city all day and it happened all day long. Our waiter and restaurant staff, the people at the museum, strangers on the street, people on the bus, passersby. It was AMAZING. It was a very, very strong reminder how just the sight of an image of President Obama can fill people’s hearts.
I encourage all of you to wear whatever PBO paraphernalia you have in the coming days and see what happens.
Ok, that got me crying again. ❤
There was one young asian woman in particular that struck me. She passed me by and then circled back and came over to me and said, I’m sorry to bother you but I just had to say thank you for wearing that pin. I’m so sorry to approach you but I just had to tell you. I said thank you, raised my hand to cover the pin, which was situated over my heart, and said thank you again. She began to tear up and then walked away. It was remarkable.
THANK YOU, Meta, for sharing these positive people-connections from today! This terrific reminder that Pres Obama is still pulling people *together* is a wonderful note for me to take offline with me. Blessings!
Wonderful story, Meta, thank you.
Love the subtlety of the HOPE poster lapel pin — as discreet as the flag pin that PBO was compelled to wear because of MSM and RWNJ outrage (no such requirement for truly illegitimate WHITE presidents apparently).
Check out the quotes in the @mydesert article (reposting from upthread) — this profound admiration for our First Family will not fade over time, but will rather endure and deepen.
We will need solidarity in the face of unprecedented wielding of power by plutocratic autocracy driven by chaos-focused (Bannon) and greed-focused (Kushner) “aides.”
Link to article with memo to @Interior staff (no tweets from @Interior or any @NatlParkService units since PBO left DC yesterday).
more…
My concern re: @Interior memo to stop tweeting:
meta I would love to see what Trump prayer would be if he visit the Wailing All.
PBS piece on Pete:
One last poke in the eye for the night. See ya’ll tomorrow. Thanks again, NW – some of us would need therapy without TOD!
Nerdy, and everyone else who helped us all get through these last two days, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I suspect some things may have been broken around here (I came close, even with TOD) but having this place and all of you was exactly what my aching heart needed. If anything, I suspect we are going to need each other more than ever in the coming days. I must admit I started to pick up after seeing the tweets from PBO and Michelle on their personal accounts. Somehow it seemed to indicate they won’t be gone for too long, which of course is driving the DT people nuts:-)
Second, there is a wonderful rant from Paul Waldman in the WaPO, which is free this weekend. I caught myself screaming “YES!” out loud when I read it:
“And we will fight. We may not win most of the time — with control of the White House and Congress, there is a great deal Republicans will be able to do no matter how much the Democrats or the public object. But we will fight, precisely because we love our country and care about its future. We liberals know well that you like to think that you alone are the “real” Americans and you alone have the country’s true interests at heart. But we stopped submitting to that calumny some time ago.
So I say to my conservative friends: You want liberals to pipe down and get behind our new president? Too damn bad”
A liberal’s letter to conservatives on the occasion of Trump’s inauguration http://wpo.st/B8AT2
Finally, it was a very interesting day watching Michelle, and I have some thoughts which I will try to formulate tomorrow. I think this day was far more difficult for her than it was for PBO.
In the meantime, sleep well, and thank you again.
GM FFTX.
“In the meantime, sleep well…” — I wonder when that will happen for me.
Never seem to be enough hours in the day, and what the DIC and his anarchist aides are doing to the country literally keeps me up at night.
More on this later, but meanwhile, back to the subject of FLOTUS:
This tweet links to an article that features our very own Tyrant-In-Chief ;), @NerdyWonka.
A couple more…
😀
I said it yesterday and I will continue to say it, Michelle Obama speaks for me because I feel the same. If I was there I would have to look over there at Trump and wonder how the hell did something like that man become president of this country? Thank you Michelle Obama.
goodnight TOD ….
I’ll be there tomorrow at the Capitol bldg. in Salem, Oregon.
Seattle Center …. today
I thank you Nerdy for posting this simply address from my President. I will be watching this again in the days to come because it summarizes exactly what it means to be an Obama supporter and organizer. Also the President emphasized that we didn’t imagine what we were able to accomplish. We will make a difference going forward just as we have up till now.
http://www.salon.com/2017/01/20/barack-obamas-last-interview-as-president-was-for-a-podcast-with-his-old-communications-team/
I saw this comment after an article from the Washington Post describing Trump’s inability to get Hillary Clinton out of his head. I thought it was worth sharing here.
zeke27
12:59 AM EST
Donald needs enemies to define him. He needs to beat people up. Now that the campaign is over, he’s all alone, naked in his aggression, looking for another battle to win. He has started to attack the American people as he destroys the fabric of our nation. He really is no different than ISIS destroying archeological treasures with sledge hammers, not understanding or appreciating what he is destroying.
I didn’t know about this!
Firedddddddddddddddddddd UP…..READY TO GO….Heading to the Women’s March ion Philadelphia…W/ my daughter and granddaughter….
Bob and Libby Dole.
The difference between class and trash.
And Dole supported Trump. So self serving as usual.
This is my boss, an avid supporter of PBO. She is so upset by Birther’s win, she never lets a chance go by without expressing her disgust. So, she was supposed to get on a bus yesterday to go to D.C. for the March. I don’t know what happened, but apparently the driver never showed up, so she and the people that were to get on, all strangers, rented a van to go.
She wrote this on her Facebook page.
“On my way to Washington DC with a group of seven women I met today – strangers and now friends . Our Rally Bus for our trip to DC never showed up – remembering the words again of a very honorable. wise and remarkable President, we decided together – Yes we can, Yes we will – One new friend went to rent the van, we loaded in and are now driving through the night to stand together and begin the process of returning this great country, beloved country back to her basic principals of justice and equality for all, tolerance, love and kindness – This country my friends is worth the fight – LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE”
You have a GREAT BOSS!! 🙂 Tell her that we’re proud of her when you see her:)
How the WH responds will be very telling. The petition At WH.gov has reached the necessary 100,000 signatures in less than a day…
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-petition-tax-returns-white-house-response-a7538851.html
Probably 3/4 of what’s his names followers just want to keep tabs on what flies out of his mouth…they don’t agree with him or even like him
There is my President and First Lady arriving at Thunderbird Heights. Bless you.
Good Morning TOD ~ Happy Resistance Day 🙂 Getting ready to leave for the DC march. Going w/ middle son & his gf. I wrote a whole long twitter thingy this morning about why I’m marching… hope you’ll check it out. But even if you don’t.. suffice it to say I’m going to my first march at age 59 because of “Ashley”…. which is all of us. Remember Ashley? I love you all.. even you lurkers 🙂 🙂 It’s a good day to be in/ of the world because I believe there are far far more of us then there are trumps. Today will be proof.
Stay safe.
First order of business for the Deplorable-in-Chief: rolling back FHA financial relief for new and low-income home owners, loosening some regulations in the ACA, and silencing critics by controlling media (Interior Dept.) out of vanity and pettiness because they retweeted about the negligible size of the inaugural crowd. Not so much of a populist is he? Next, privatizing schools and private funding (we will wind up paying his cronies billions of dollars) of intra-structure. Welcome to the new order.
Thank you TOD for being here this morning. Nerdy, there are no words to say thanks often enough for all your work.
FORWARD
On two separate occasions yesterday Twitter found it necessary for me to follow Trump, this after I un-followed @POTUS Thursday night. Don’t be a dick, Twitter.
New post.
https://theobamadiary.com/2017/01/21/i-believe-in-you/