Speaking to a massive crowd of supporters in Chicago instead of from the Oval Office or the East Room of the White House, Obama is hoping to invoke the message of “hope and change” that propelled him to the presidency in 2008, and kept him there until 2016.
"I'll be thinking back to being a young community organizer, pretty much fresh out of school, and feeling as if my faith in America's ability to bring about change in our democracy has been vindicated," Obama said in a White House video on his final address.
Administration officials have said that his speech will not be focused on policy, or his contrasts with Trump, but rather on a general hopeful vision for the future.
"The system will respond to ordinary people coming together to try to move the country in a better direction," he said in the video.
The outgoing President is correct, and people did come together, by voting for change through Trump.
“The system did respond, in November, to Americans who by and large rejected Obama's policies by electing Republican Donald Trump,” the Associated Press noted.
Despite seemingly fighting to make things as difficult as possible for the incoming President, Obama hopes that the speech will transcend party politics and speak to all Americans, even those who voted for Trump.
"The President is primarily delivering a message to the American people, all Americans, whether they voted for President Obama or not," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday. "The President feels an obligation to talk about what he's learned of the last eight years, what he's learned about the country, what he's learned about governing the country, and offer up his advice to the American people about the most effective way to confront the challenges that we see ahead."
Fewer than half of Americans say that they are better off after Obama’s presidency than they were before. Only one-third of Americans believe that he kept his promises, though the majority believe that he tried, and simply could not.
