With Nostalgia and Foreboding: How US Media Bade Obama Farewell

As President Obama’s time in the White House drew to a close, US media said their farewells in these touching pieces

President Barack Obama gestures as he delivers remarks during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton on Saturday (Photo: AP)

Report Cards - Successes and Failures

• John Cassidy dissects Obama’s economic achievements and failings at the end of his tenure as President in a piece for The New Yorker. Analysing employment figures and the scale and quality of job growth, Cassidy argues that the Obama ‘Recovery’ was one of his greatest achievements. (The New Yorker)
• In a comprehensive report card at the end of Obama’s Presidency, Scott Horsley, writing for NPR, gives a rundown of his performance, on everything from terrorism, to the economy, to healthcare, to foreign policy. He looks at the controversies, as well as the outright successes and failures during the last 8 years. (NPR)

Obama’s Legacy

• What is Obama’s legacy on jihadism? Robin Wright takes us through the milestones over the last eight years in the fight against terrorism, in this article for The New Yorker. From a high point of announcing that the US had hunted down and killed Osama Bin Laden, to the low of having likened ISIS to a “jayvee team” when it was on the ascendance, she argues that the outgoing President leaves a legacy of both having “turned the tide” on jihadism, and at the same time having to leave the fight at a time when it is a “broader and more diverse” threat. (The New Yorker)
• Jamelle Bouie writes poignantly for Slate about the paradox of Barack Obama in the qualities that enabled him to rise to the highest office, and the same qualities that leave him inadequately prepared to deal with the “revanchist rage” that got Donald Trump elected as his successor. (Slate)
• On the issue of race relations in the United States of America, Nick Bryant analyses if Obama had a positive effect. Race discrimination is an issue Obama took up strongly in his farewell speech as well and Bryant writes that “his very presence in the White House is one of the great intangibles of his presidency.” But he also adds that though the presidency began on a high, it didn’t herald the immense change that supporters expected. (BBC)
• Readers of The New York Times write their analyses of President Barack Obama’s legacy from his relatable persona, his international achievements to the “folly of Obamacare”. (The New York Times)

The Farewell Speech

• Douglas E Schoen writes that Obama’s farewell speech was reminiscent of his entire tenure – big talk with fewer results. Attacking his record abroad and his economic performance among others, Schoen builds the argument that the 2016 election result was an unambiguous referendum on the Obama administration’s policies. (Fox News)
• As his Presidency drew to a close, Obama gave a hopeful, empathetic speech, drawing on his trademark appeals for bipartisanship and unity across party lines, to deliver an ultimately unconvincing address, writes Jeremy Stahl for Slate. Using his farewell speech as a “call to arms” to his political supporters as much as a message of hope for the nation, he writes that the outgoing President appealed to citizens to become more involved in civil and political life in a time when many Americans see a hopelessly divided nation. (Slate)

Coming to Terms with Trump

• In a lengthy piece, filled with often heart-wrenching detail, David Remnick takes us through Obama’s steadfast and principled reckoning with the prospect of a Trump presidency, from before the latter emerged as a serious candidate, to his eventual victory. (The New Yorker)