I was in McCormick Convention Center in Chicago last night, and it was one of the more emotional political events I've been at. The good-will towards the President, First Lady, and Vice-President were very apparent. The President's speech was as amazing as I expected. The crowd was very into it. The President made a passionate argument for his Presidency and decisions, and that room agreed with him. Even so, I felt sad at the end. We can argue the President's legacy all day, and I think it's mostly a good one, but we cannot argue about the character of the man.
I've worked against President Obama several times. I've worked for him a couple too. As he leaves office, I can only pay him the highest compliment I have- I respect and admire him as a person. Amidst negativity and polarization never seen before, against a party that set new standards for obstruction, and facing the weight of being the first African-American President, Barack Obama and his family stood firm with grace. He rarely showed frustration, almost never showed true animus, and held himself to a higher standard. He is one of the most incredibly gifted politicians I've seen in my life (right next to Bill and Ron), but an even better person. The Obama family never once embarrassed us, never once gave in to the allure of scandal, and never once behaved as a family under siege- which they were at all points.
Our politics are nasty and ugly, but the Obamas were not. Our population is cynical and conspiratorial, and the Obamas were not. Our media treated his opponents' behavior as somehow normal, yet the Obamas never complained. They maintained. They endured. In the long run, they won.
I'm going to miss the Obamas as a family, particularly as the new circus comes to town. They were everything the nation around them wasn't, at a time when it was tough to be so. The Obama family were the heroes we didn't deserve these last eight years- but they were the heroes we had.
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