President Barack Obama - nog maar voor 9 dagen, snik - gaf gisteren zijn afscheidsspeech in de plaats waar zijn politieke carrière begon, Chicago. In de speech vertelde Obama over zijn reis naar het Witte Huis, de dingen die hij als president heeft bereikt en zijn visie voor Amerika.

Daarna kreeg-ie iedereen aan het huilen toen-ie Michelle Obama - zijn rots, vrouw, de moeder van zijn kinderen en beste vriendin - bedankte voor haar steun en pakte een moment om Joe Biden - zijn vicepresident - uitgebreid te eren en liet aan de hele wereld zien dat daar een bromance vriendschap voor het leven was gemaakt.

Barack Obama hield een speech van bijna een uur (onderaan de pagina kun je 'm helemaal zien), maar hieronder zetten we de 10 meest memorabele momenten uit zijn afscheidsrede op een rij.

Over een nieuw sociaal systeem voor alle Amerikanen

'We must forge a new social compact - to guarantee all our kids the education they need; to give workers the power to unionize for better wages; to update the social safety net to reflect the way we live now and make more reforms to the tax code so corporations and individuals who reap the most from the new economy don't avoid their obligations to the country that's made their success possible. We can argue about how to best achieve these goals. But we can't be complacent about the goals themselves. For if we don't create opportunity for all people, the disaffection and division that has stalled our progress will only sharpen in years to come.'

Er is nog veel werk aan de winkel omtrent rascisme

'After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America. Such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic. For race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society. I've lived long enough to know that race relations are better than they were 10, or 20, or 30 years ago - you can see it not just in statistics, but in the attitudes of young Americans across the political spectrum. But we're not where we need to be. All of us have more work to do.'

Alle kinderen verdienen aandacht

'If we decline to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don't look like us, we diminish the prospects of our own children- because those brown kids will represent a larger share of America's workforce.'

'To Kill a Mockingbird' is nog steeds relevant

'If our democracy is to work in this increasingly diverse nation, each one of us must try to heed the advice of one of the great characters in American fiction, Atticus Finch, who said "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."'

Barack Obama's moeder zei het 't beste

'Isn't that part of what makes politics so dispiriting? How can elected officials rage about deficits when we propose to spend money on preschool for kids, but not when we're cutting taxes for corporations? How do we excuse ethical lapses in our own party, but pounce when the other party does the same thing? It's not just dishonest, this selective sorting of the facts; it's self-defeating. Because as my mother used to tell me, reality has a way of catching up with you.'

Over hoe het nu verder moet met Amerika

'All of us, regardless of party, should throw ourselves into the task of rebuilding our democratic institutions. When voting rates are some of the lowest among advanced democracies, we should make it easier, not harder, to vote. When trust in our institutions is low, we should reduce the corrosive influence of money in our politics, and insist on the principles of transparency and ethics in public service. When Congress is dysfunctional, we should draw our districts to encourage politicians to cater to common sense and not rigid extremes.'

George Washington als voorbeeld

'In his own farewell address, George Washington wrote that self-government is the underpinning of our safety, prosperity, and liberty, but "from different causes and from different quarters much pains will be taken to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth;" that we should preserve it with "jealous anxiety;" that we should reject "the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties" that make us one... It falls to each of us to be those anxious, jealous guardians of our democracy; to embrace the joyous task we've been given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours. Because for all our outward differences, we all share the same proud title: Citizen.'

Zijn ode aan Michelle, Malia, Sasha en Joe

'Michelle, for the past twenty-five years, you've been not only my wife and mother of my children, but my best friend. You took on a role you didn't ask for and made it your own with grace and grit and style and good humor. You made the White House a place that belongs to everybody. And a new generation sets its sights higher because it has you as a role model. You've made me proud. You've made the country proud.'

Nee hoor, we huilen niet...

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Oké, we huilen.

'Malia and Sasha, under the strangest of circumstances, you have become two amazing young women, smart and beautiful, but more importantly, kind and thoughtful and full of passion. You wore the burden of years in the spotlight so easily. Of all that I've done in my life, I'm most proud to be your dad.'

'To Joe Biden, the scrappy kid from Scranton who became Delaware's favorite son: You were the first choice I made as a nominee, and the best. Not just because you have been a great Vice President, but because in the bargain, I gained a brother. We love you and Jill like family, and your friendship has been one of the great joys of our life.'

Yes We Can/Yes We Did

'I am asking you to hold fast to that faith written into our founding documents; that idea whispered by slaves and abolitionists; that spirit sung by immigrants and homesteaders and those who marched for justice; that creed reaffirmed by those who planted flags from foreign battlefields to the surface of the moon; a creed at the core of every American whose story is not yet written:

Yes We Can.

Yes We Did.

Yes We Can.'

Bekijk hier de hele afscheidsspeech van Barack Obama:

Van: ELLE US