As I keep saying, I’ve been avoiding the farewell stuff from President Barack Obama. It’s just too sad. I said so many times last year that we needed to soak in every last drop of the Obamas’ decency, kindness and coolness, but when it came down to the line… saying goodbye to them is going to be traumatic for me, and for many other people. For this brilliant, calm, thoughtful man to have to transfer power to an orange lunatic is just too much. But I fell into the trap. I started watching Obama’s last press conference on Wednesday and Jesus Christ, you guys. How are we going to do this? The entire press conference is on YouTube, obviously, but just check out this clip of Obama talking about his daughters and their reaction to Emperor Baby Fists’ win.
Pres. Obama on daughters' reaction to election results: “They were disappointed…[but] they do not mope.” https://t.co/34KXTEd6OI pic.twitter.com/AZJQVW4tnb
— ABC News (@ABC) January 18, 2017
He says, regarding Sasha and Malia’s reaction:
“They were disappointed. They paid attention to what their mom said during the campaign and believed it because it’s consistent with what we’ve tried to teach them in our household, what I’ve tried to model as a father with their mom and what we’ve asked them to expect from future boyfriends or spouses.”
The president went on to say that, as parents, he and the first lady have also taught their girls resilience and hope — “and that the only thing that is the end of the world is the end of the world.”
“They don’t mope,” he added. “What makes me proudest about them is that they also don’t get cynical. They have not assumed that, because their side didn’t win or because some of the values they care about don’t seem as though they were vindicated, that somehow automatically, America had somehow rejected them or rejected their values.”
“The only thing that is the end of the world is the end of the world.” Yeah but that’s what it feels like. Anyway… Obama really was the Dad-in-Chief. He loved to embarrass his girls with dad jokes and dad jeans and turkey-pardons. But you can tell Sasha and Malia adore their parents too. And now we have Emperor Baby Fists, who talks about how he’d love to date his daughter.
And just to put on a bow on the sadness of Obama leaving office, White House photographer Pete Souza released some of his favorite images from the Obama presidency: Obama and his girls playing in the snow in 2010. I’m including some other Dad-Obama Instagrams too because THIS HURTS ME SO MUCH.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Pete Souza’s Instagram.
I’m so sad. I’ve decided to focus on Obama today because he deserves that much on his last day. But I’m so upset that we are transitioning from such a classy family to ew.
So far I’ve cried to his farewell address
His last press conference
Giving Joe his medal
At Pete’s IG posts (it’s his last day as well)
At the Bush girls final letter to the Obama girls as well as unreleased pictures of them showing them around the WH.
Don’t leave us sir (jk you deserve a year long vacation) 🙁
It is sad. And he deserves a rest, and I hope we are going to stay ok, but I’m pretty much freaking out.
We have to have hope and faith. I truly believe there is more of us than them. More people that believe in decency and being a good person. The old guards of the world ( brexit….) keep trying to hold back a train that has already left the station. We will be fine and prevail in the end! The journey might just hurt as hell.
Well said. Work to be done, starting tomorrow!
That’s a good goal Cynthia! I’ll try to keep in mind!
Great words that we all need to hear and remember. I will mope through the inauguration then I will get back on the bandwagon and fight against creeping facism
I’m trying to hold back the tears today as well. (I don’t want to cry at work.)
For those wanting that emotional release, I suggest listening to “One Last Time” from Hamilton. It’s bittersweet and very fitting.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uV4UpCq2azs
I’ve had that on loop as well. It comes to mind every time Obama does a last anything. During his Chicago speech I captioned it “Obama is going home” and then cried.
“The Nation learns to move on. It outlives me when I’m gone”
“I want to sit under my own vine and fig trees. A moment alone in the shade. At home in this nation we’ve made. One last time”
I wrote the Obama family a Thank you letter. I am going to miss such a elegant, articulate, charming President in the White House.
I will write a letter, too. I’m not quite ready.
I wanted to write one before he came into office. I took my 4 year old daughter to a rally in Cleveland (Bruce Springsteen spoke beautifully, and we were gifted with seeing Michelle and the girls, too) and she wanted to invite the Obamas over for dinner. He is the only president my children have ever known, and I am so proud of our country for this, so proud of him as our president. I truly believe he did the best he could with what he was handed, and that he acted solely for the benefit of the American people.
I will miss them so much, and pray that they speak out about the issues that we are facing now with cheeto mussolini. I think it can be done with grace without taking anyone down individually. As much anger as I have toward pee pee baby hands, the way to move forward is to bring people together, not divide them further.
Yep pretty much summed up all the times I’ve cried.
Add in:
Michelle’s last walk through the White House
Michelle’s final speech as First Lady
Designers letters thanking Michelle
Hamilton singing One Last time to Obama
Celebrities posting pictures and thank yous
MSNBC’s Obama year special
Joe Biden on the view
And if I ever stop and think about it.
Same. … I can’t see Obama going quietly into the night. He is young, still popular and active. He will be active outside of the office and still pushing a progressive agenda. Its just a new phases in the Obamas life. Its going to be very interesting seeing where they go from here.
No matter what, it was going to hurt to say goodbye to President Obama and his family. But to say goodbye to him and see Twitler take over is devastating.
Exactly. We are saying goodbye to decency, thoughtfulness, intelligence, courage, honesty, erudition, evenhandedness….and getting a greedy, dishonest, predatory, cowardly, incurious, ignorant, bigoted egomaniac in his place. The HuffPo says it all today: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/clueless-reckless-graceless-mindless-and-heartless-our-president-elect_us_587fc437e4b0cf0ae881b518?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003
Is there any chance Michelle will consider running in a few years?
According to the latest CNN polls President Obama is leaving at a high rating of 60%. Many, many people are going to miss him even his haters I suspect.
Meanwhile Baby Fist is at 36% and read it as 63% in his delusional mind.
You should definitely trust those CNN polls, they haven’t failed you yet.
@Starr-You’re right. Much better to believe the truthful, unbiased coverage found on Faux News, Breitbart or better yet Tinkles the Clown himself–because we all know he NEVER lies.
@kitten- uh oh somebody doesn’t like hearing that the polls weren’t accurate huh? Just keep eating the sh* they feed you. God forbid somebody say anything that doesn’t fall directly in line with the group think here. None of those media outlets you mentioned got a damn thing right when it came to this election. I was simply suggesting maybe don’t swallow everything they shove you’re way as gospel. Im pretty sure that’s how you ended up being so shocked that this all happened! ZOMG
@ starr, ‘group think’ is not an accurate description of the political discussions here. I would agree that most are more left-leaning, but there have been many respectful debates on ideology and policy.
What I do not see are broad, sweeping generalizations and cliched claptrap.
I am bitter today, so I will add that it is ‘your’ and not ‘you’re’ way.
At Starr: You just messed with the wrong Kitty. She’s too classy to respond to you, but she has much respect here so I will take the bait.
“Just keep eating the sh* they feed you. God forbid somebody say anything that doesn’t fall directly in line with the group think here.”
Do you not see the hypocrisy in this? You literally eat Fox news for dinner and hail it as gospel. For crying out loud. You helped elect the newest fascist, war mongering dictator. No, those jobs aren’t coming back. Yes, Trump is a baffoon and a sexual assailant. Yes, you are wrong for sweeping this under the rug as “fake news”. I would hate to be your wife/mother/sister/daughter that suffers from his policies. How do you sleep at night?!
Thanks, Juls & Susanne.
It’s just too hilarious to be lectured about what to believe from the Fox News Crowd lol.
Oh but I’m sure Starr is right and the CNN polls are wrong and everyone actually loves Trump.
Although I can’t say that I remember marches happening in every major city in the United States (and all over the world) to protest Obama’s two terms. Starr probably believes the hundreds of thousands of people marching is really just “fake news” from CNN. As Tinkles would say: sad!
@Starr, you’re right I don’t need a poll to tell me how much I dislike incoming little lord Farquaad and how much I love Obama. If I was you I would be more concerned with the 6 intelligence agencies investigating claims Russian money was routed through the Trump campaign from Kremlin plants, but that is just me.
@Starr, it’s not the news that showed the man up as a sex offender. It isn’t even the more than 20 women coming forward with what he did to them. It was his own sordid, nasty, facile, disgusting mouth.
If he’s your hero, then you need to get out of that sewer you inhabit, because people are judged by the people they choose to idolize, just as much as by the company they choose to keep.
@starr the polls weren’t inaccurate Hillary won the popular vote by about 3% and that is what the polling showed.
looking at these pictures full of love hurts so bad that it gives me a pause.
Yes, Barack with his girls is so moving. And then the mind immediately goes to Trump talking lecherously about his daughter’s body and saying if she wasn’t his daughter he would “probably be dating her.”
Yep. Obama’s warmth when he speaks about his daughters is so touching. I didn’t really want to think of it, but what came into my mind was Trump agreeing that Howard Stern could call Ivanka a “nice piece of ass”. Truly revolting.
I’d forgotten about that one, Annetommy — how disgusting of him to think of his own daughter as a piece of ass! That’s bad enough, but then to say it publicly and agree that anyone should be able to say that about her: truly reprehensible.
I wonder if Ivanka ever looks at pictures of Obama with his daughters and feels a tinge of envy. Does she ever wish that she could have had a childhood with a father who doted on her (in the appropriate way), treated her with respect and loved her unconditionally. She may have money and power but she is missing something much more important.
Ivanka’s own mother swore a deposition that Trump raped and beat her.
I can’t fathom that this man is in the White House. It’s just so wrong on so many levels.
yup. the one on the swing-set with Malia is SO SO SWEET.
My heart aches.
From Thomas Jefferson to Donald Trump, America, thou art fucked. World is going to be such a scary and different place now.
Impeachment or assassination are my gut feelings towards him. let’s hope world war 3 doesn’t happen.
One can hope, Ever bloom, one can hope (for impeachment- though I think he will have a heart attack).
I think impeachment. I really do, he ticked off the nation’s intelligence agencies, he’s all over the place with his own party, and people are pissed and he hasn’t even taken office yet. Not to mention all the business conflicts of interest, the Russian influence, and all the dirty dealings we know he’s doing or going to do.
My hope is they push him out and let Pence be their little right wing puppet, but Trump supporters revolt against the GOP, and everyone who is anti-Trump shows up for the midterms and 2020, and we get an Obama-esque progressive back in the White House with a supportive Congress.
A girl can dream, right?
I think you’re right about impeachment. Not that I’m thrilled with Pence either-but I wouldn’t fear him having the nuclear codes.
Yes. We can dream. We can hope. WE CAN.
@HappyMom – same. I don’t like Pence, but he at least appears to be a grown-up.
I choked up when he choked up. And that first snow picture is everything. I will miss them so much.
As a lover of swings, that swing set is fantastic. Good for them for donating it. It also makes me sad that, with everything he has, Barron Trump will never use that wonderful swing set. In some ways, possibly in many ways given his parentage, he is deprived. But I don’t feel sorry enough for him to think they should stay in New York. They should move. There is no excuse for wasting tax dollars, so many tax dollars, in that manner.
Well, if another swing set shows up on the WH lawn, we’ll know why Twitler declined the Obama’s offer to leave it for Barron.
I think it’s weird they didn’t leave it for all the grandchildren.
Melania and Barron don’t plan to move to the WH, so it’s good it went somewhere useful.
I don’t feel sorry it went to a local shelter and its better used there. Besides with how many tax dollars wasted on trump in NYC the swing is the LEAST of our worries
I didn’t agree with every decision he made (particularly foreign policy) , but I ALWAYS believed his motivations were in the nation’s (and planet’s) best interest. He is a good man who was always striving to do the right thing for his family, his nation and the planet. This family represented the best in America. They will be missed.
I totally agree.
He was talking about his girls here, but really he was talking to us. He is good at that. Just like when he was talking to the Press Corps on his last press conference about the importance of the media holding those in power accountable, he was talking directly to his successor.
I am so sad to see him go. x
I know. So much wisdom to be gleaned from Obama’s words on so many levels. Again the contrast to his successor, whom I’ve yet hear to utter a single wise word, is just staggering. It’s truly a sad day for our country.
Yes, he was like a reassuring parent to all of us who are currently scared Shi#less. Don’t leave us, Dad!!
Someone likened this to Obama being the loving father who moves out and your mom’s new creepy bf pulls up in his Camaro in his place.
Today is the last day that we will have an adult in the White House for at least the next four years.
😢
Please don’t go!
😢
His last presser was in my recommended vids so I watched part of it live on youtube despite not having any time for it – you just don’t turn off Obama, you know? He’s eloquent, so on point about basically any issue, so educated, such a greater speaker. I teared up because I really had to turn it off and go eventually. And the photographer – Pete – was in my ig recommended, and I spent a good half hour looking at all those beautiful moments he captured. It really feels like saying goodbye to a good friend. And I’m not even American
It’s moving to hear what you say, Katherine, especially since you’re not even an American. And somehow it gives me a bit of comfort tonight, in these last few waning hours of Obama’s presidency. Thanks.
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
~Maya Angelou
I love this! The perfect quote.
Truly perfect! And all you have to do is look at the photos to see how he made us feel.
His comments about not moping or becoming cynical while still maintaining ones values is easier said than done. He is a far better human being than I am when it comes to acceptance and understanding true and personal worth. I watched “The End” (awful name but beautiful documentary) on CNN. It was so interesting to get insight into the sincerity and inclusiveness of the Obama team. Unbelievable he is being replaced by someone optimizing, actually going far beyond, the Ugly American stereotype. America steps backward.
PS Love the family in the snow pics … beautiful!!!!!
I agree with everything you say here. His message is absolutely the right one, yet very hard to put into practice when we’re staring down the barrel of a revolver.
I’m focusing on the women’s march here in Boston on Saturday. I’ll be attending with my mom, brother, and sis-in-law. I’m hoping the positive energy generated by seeing so many people turn out to protest Trump will help carry me through the next four years.
I watched that documentary too, it was really good and very interesting, and his team behind him are really nice people.
He is too subtle and too intelligent for his wisdom to translate into something most people understand. And he is so chill that I took the last 8 years of stability and respectability totally for granted. He did so much good, but in such a quiet way that I think much of it was missed. He was truly one of a kind.
I agree completely.
I’ve been trying to plan how I’ll be spending Inauguration Day AWAY from the TV. I’m just outside of D.C. and last night’s news told how the Obamas are catching their plane for Palm Springs from Andrews AFB and I thought that’s the thing to do. I’ve never been lucky enough to see them in person these last 8 years. Maybe I can catch them on their way out and see them off. I have a feeling there might be a few others out there.
That sounds like a great plan. Do it!! I wish I could.
I have to run by the commissary anyway! 😉
Oh, that would be awesome if you can catch them. I am making sure none of our televisions are set to anything to do with the inauguration. Old rerun channels will be on.
The day after I’ll google The Obamas strictly to see them and avoid all visuals of the rapistinchief and his grotesque family.
It’s so hard to say goodbye. I just remember that day 8 years ago that he was inaugurated. I was living in a small town in upstate NY which was such a pro Obama town that the community center was crowded with people to watch the inauguration. There was such a feeling of hope in the air. He’s such a great man and although he’s not perfect (no one is) I believe he’s done such a great job in the face of obstruction.
I baked a cake with my kids, we decorated with the sunrising O from the campaign posters. Some of their homeschooled friends came over and we had a party. We were all so excited. Tomorrow we are going to ignore what’s happening, go to a movie, and try not to cry. Saturday we will be at the sister march in Toronto.
I had a dentist appointment and she had it on in the waiting room. My dentist is from China and her staff are all immigrants from Colombia, India, and the Azores. They all took a break during the swearing in and speech so we all watched together; a multicultural group of women holding hands, so full of joy and inspiration.
We stopped work to watch eight years ago. We wanted to witness history, and did.
Let’s hope tomorrow’s idiot is just a small footnote.
I watched his inauguration at the airport, with a group of people huddled around the TVs. The woman next to me was crying. I was crying too. This stranger and I hugged each other. I had volunteered for his campaign, and I felt such a feeling of community and positivity. It was like I wasn’t in the fight for good alone.
I was living in DC at that time and went to his inauguration. I’m a SWF, and I was standing far back near the WWII Memorial next to an AA family — mom and 2 pre-teen girls — watching from one of the large screens they had up. I’ll never forgot that day. As he was speaking about how years ago he wouldn’t be allowed to sit at a restaurant counter in this town, I looked over and saw the mom….tears rolling down her cheeks. And I thought about what that moment must have meant to her, to be able to give that moment to her girls. That day was full of moments like that — his inauguration meant so much to so many people in so many different ways.
I always think about older AA people and how much his election and seeing his family in the White House must have meant to them . . .
It’s so hard to say goodbye. I just remember that day 8 years ago that he was inaugurated. I was living in a small town in upstate NY which was such a pro Obama town that the community center was crowded with people to watch the inauguration. There was such a feeling of hope in the air. He’s such a great man and although he’s not perfect (no one is) I believe he’s done such a great job in the face of obstruction. I will miss the feeling of having a brilliant and with it man as president and a first family that I cherished like no other.
+1 kajillion (is that a number?)
I’ve been around for a lot of presidents, and admired some, but Barack Obama is the first that I’ve loved. It’s hard to put into words, but few before him have managed such a scandal free combination of public service and private life.
Even though the Obamas plan to go dark for awhile, please, Kaiser, continue to cover them. I don’t think most here would mind if you posted old photos. We need some brightness, some good memories, during the horror that is coming.
I hope since they’ll be in DC for a least a couple of years that we hear about them! Maybe he and Michelle will take that community organizing to the next level. Wouldn’t that be an amazing post-Presidential thing to do?
I don’t doubt they will…they were activists before. That’s their roots. But I want him to take a year off and enjoy. They deserve it.
Then I hope they are back on the front lines. I have every belief that they will be.
I think they will too. They are deserving of a great vacation and family time, but I think they both genuinely care too much about all of us to sit back now, of all times. I imagine Michelle will continue her work for military families and children, and I hope Obama and Biden roll around DC kickin’ ass.
Me too. Is this how people felt about JFK?
Pretty much, at the time. I turned 16 the week JFK was elected and was a great admirer of him and the family. There were rumors, but all the shady stuff(women, the Mob, etc.)didn’t come out till later. I still consider him a good president and wonder what if he’d had more time.
Yes I think so, even in the UK, and I was very young when JFK was murdered, but there was a warmth of feeling for JFK that hasn’t been there for other presidents, although Clinton was popular. While it wasn’t as radical as Obama being the first POC to be president, JFK was the first (only?) Catholic president, and that made a constituency feel that they were enfranchised. JFK was of course very different from Obama, and no one with any sensitivity would support his constant womanising. But the way people felt about them certainly had strong parallels I think. They were / are both relatively young with young families, intelligent and articulate, and self-deprecatingly funny. Now I’m depressing myself….
I’m thankful that so many young people got to grow up with Obama as their President. I pray that his example will guide them and lead them now as we face one of the darkest times in our history. I shudder to think of the impact of Emperor Baby Fist on our children.
Thank you Barack and Michele….we love you and wish you all the best for the future.
Obama was the first President I voted for and that was the first election I was really involved with since I was too young before. I voted for him again in 2012 and would easily do so again if it was an option. I love this man and his family so much and the impact he (and his wife) has had on me & my generation, especially POC will never go away. He is one of a kind and I have faith that history will be kinder and more respectful of him than what he’s been treated to by so many these last 8 years.
I can hardly imagine how he is feeling today.
I will miss him. He kept some light for my family, as we coped with the Harper years, in our own country. Many a time I wished for Obama to be our leader.
Thank you, to him and his beautiful family.
CBS This Morning just ran a lovely segment on letters sent to President Obama. It’s more than worth googling if you missed it.
*crying* (i can cause im alone today!) I Cannot wait for politically active but without F*cks or constrains fun Obamas, I also hope like crazy for more Bo and Sunny sightings and for them to have a Vacation in Bora Bora with the Bidens like starting tomorrow afternoon, They deserve!
I like your style QQ and completely agree!
They are the most gracious family. I love them.
I know the president is going to Palm Springs for a while but I wonder if Sasha will be staying in DC for school?
It is amazing to the point of shocking to see the difference in tone between President Obama’s press conference and emperor baby fist’s… whatever that was. YOU ARE FAKE NEWS! Omg. Totally in mourning over this transition.
I hope his impact will echo over trump’s reign. I hope Obama’s class, his calm, and his dignity will be an ever-present contrast to the shenanigans that will ensue. When I feel sad, I will just picture Obama and Biden braiding each other’s hair and giggling.
I can’t believe it’s his last day already.
And now it’s time to unsubscribe from the White House youtube channel, I don’t really want to see it without President Obama as POTUS.
I am very sad that he’s leaving tomorrow and we’ll be stuck with this orange devil for the next four years.
I’m nine months pregnant. Due yesterday, actually. I’ve wondered if, had I known Trump would win, whether I would have even tried to get pregnant. That’s how terrified I am of what’s to come.
I’m sitting here crying as I read these comments. I wish my daughter could have grown up with Barack Obama as her President.
This is heartbreaking.
I hope all goes well Kristen, and that you enjoy being a mum despite the vileness of this situation. Take care.
For those interested he has one last interview it’s on a podcast with his former employees called pod save America. You can download it on iTunes.
Seconding this podcast! It’s excellent.
Awesome! thank you for the recommendation. Downloading right now.
Thanks! I’ll download as soon as I get home.
I’m genuinely curious what you think about Chelsea Manning and her pardon.
Was it pardon or commuted sentence?
Commuted sentence. It made Paul Ryan apoplectic so that alone may have been worth it. Manning was seeking surgery, which, had a judge approved it, would have created a host of difficult issues for the prison system.
Yes, the apoplexy about Manning was an interesting contrast to the lack of apoplexy about Russia interfering with the bloody election. Maybe some of their rage could have been directed towards that, instead of their general outright denial or their “hey, sh@it happens, wadda ya gonna do?” response.
It was the morally correct thing to do, but had to be a difficult decision. Given that her leaks were what put that bastard weasel Assange and Wikileaks in the spotlight, it’s tough to feel much empathy for her. She was used by them and the organization that she fed information is now an appendage of Putin. I don’t doubt that she is sincerely grateful for her commutation but I hope she does own up to the role she played in the gradual destruction of the American democratic experiment.
Anything thing that causes that fuckweasel Paul Ryan to have a tantrum is a positive in my book.
I’m just relieved that he didn’t do anything to help Snowden because what Snowden did was far worse than Manning and he hasn’t expressed any remorse. Another one I’m glad he didn’t commute or pardon was former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. I think that shows that Obama still has some Chicago politician left in him.
She’s unlikely to reoffend or hurt anyone so I’m fine with it, though it wasn’t something that was important to me. Read a few personal stories from someone who was in the army with her, apparently acted very selfish. Interesting read.
What a wonderful family we had in the White House.
I never realized until recently that Sasha’s full name is Natasha.
It has been a privilege sir to have you as president. I will truly miss you and your wonderful family.
I wish I could feel more positive but it’s too hard knowing what is coming. That a poor excuse for a human being is about to take over an office he isn’t fit to enter much less occupy. Too much for me to take right now.
Thanks, Obama!
(And I mean it.)
So long Barack. The notion that you won’t be around anymore has some folks really concerned.
Obama is such a good man. No matter how much money or power Trump has, he cannot buy the class and intelligence that Obama has. I will miss Obama greatly and I’ve been dreading Friday since November. I still can’t believe this is happening…
He won the 2008 election the same week my first child was born. It was the happiest week of my life – I remember lying there with my newborn, so delighted to hear that this classy, intelligent, exemplary family were quietly demonstrating what strides have been taken since the civil rights movement began.
Sadly, this election feels like a backlash underway. I hope it’s more a dying gasp.
Yes. I hope that’s it (dying gasp). Trouble is so much bad can happen quickly….
Thank you, Mr. President! Thank you for serving this country with such dignity and grace and LOVE. Watching you rise to our nation’s highest office was one of the great privileges of my life; watching you leave it is deeply painful.
I’m so sad. I cannot believe his last full day of being president is over, that at this time tomorrow trump will be President Trump.
I am still reeling from the shock he was even elected. I cannot fathom this, even though I know it’s reality 🙁
This is a little bit of a diss/slap:
“They have not assumed that, because their side didn’t win or because some of the values they care about don’t seem as though they were vindicated, that somehow automatically, America had somehow rejected them or rejected their values.”
Those feelings are valid and you can still have hope while simultaneously acknowledge a significant section of America DID reject them/people like them.