REGARDLESS OF THE REPORTS OF RUSSIAN HACKING, THE ELECTION HAS OFFICIALLY ENDED, AND NOW WASHINGTON, D.C IS GEARING UP FOR THE INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP ON JANUARY 20TH.
UP NEXT, STEPHANIE JARVIS GIVES US A GLIMPSE OF THE PREPARATIONS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY FOR THE EXCITING NATIONAL EVENT.
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Well, wait just a minute, Rick! We’re all excited to welcome a new president – but shouldn’t we say our goodbyes to Obama first? I mean, he HAS been our president for 8 years!
And just this week PRESIDENT OBAMA BID FAREWELL TO THE COUNTRY IN AN EMOTIONAL SPEECH FROM CHICAGO... WHERE HE left us pretty inspired!
Let’s hear from MICHELLE KOSINSKI – I’ll be back to tell you about Inauguration prep in a bit!
PRESIDENT OBAMA TOOK THE STAGE TO SAY FAREWELL-- Pres. Obama: "Good to be home!" THE APPLAUSE, SO DEAFENING IT WAS HARD TO BEGIN-- BUT HE SOON TORE INTO THE FORCES WITHIN AMERICA, THAT HE SAYS THREATEN THE VERY DEMOCRACY THAT TOO MANY TAKE FOR GRANTED: Pres. Obama: "Only if all of us, regardless of party affiliation or particular interests, help restore the sense of common purpose that we so badly need right now." HE CALLED OUT ECONOMIC INEQUALITY-- DISCRIMINATION-- AND IN SOME SURPRISING WORDS, STRESSED THAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO SHOW EMPATHY-- Pres. Obama: "For blacks and other minority groups, it means tying our own very real struggles for justice to the challenges that a lot of people in this country face -- not only the refugee, or the immigrant, or the rural poor, or the transgender American, but also the middle-aged white guy who, from the outside, may seem like he's got advantages, but has seen his world upended by economic and cultural and technological change." CALLING OUT NAKED PARTISANSHIP-- CORROSIVE POLITICS. FAKE NEWS. Pres. Obama: "increasingly, we become so secure in our bubbles that we start accepting only information, whether it's true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that is out there. (Applause)"
PRESIDENT OBAMA, THANKING THOSE AROUND HIM-- MOST EMOTIONALLY, HIS FAMILY. Pres. Obama: "Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, girl of the South Side -- (applause) -- for the past 25 years, you have not only been my wife and mother of my children, you have been my best friend. (Applause)" AND THANKING AMERICANS WHO WORKED HARD FOR CHANGE-- AND ASKING THEM FOR ONE MORE THING, TO BELIEVE IN THE POWER WITHIN THEMSELVES. Pres. Obama: "Yes we can. Yes we did."