Farewell Mr President

Amarjot Kaur

A few miles from where Barack Obama gave his presidential victory speech in Grant Park, Chicago, eight years ago, he delivered a farewell speech at Chicago’s McCormick Place on Tuesday night, which has since been going viral online. Besides reflecting on his administration’s accomplishments, his farewell speech was aimed at the future of the US as a democratic nation after the monumental losses for Democrats in the last election. While we fill you up on excerpts from his farewell speech, we speak with a few Americans and NRIs in the city to know their opinion on Obama’s farewell speech and the future of the USA.

Economically speaking

During her campaign, Hillary Clinton repeatedly put herself forward as an extension of Obama’s legacy. Clearly, Americans weren’t feeling so excited about four more years of the Obama economy. And yet in his farewell speech, Obama almost made it sound like the economy has been thriving. He claimed to have helped “reverse a great recession, reboot our auto industry, and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our history”, failing to mention myriad inconvenient economic realities like the soaring national debt and serious unemployment. I was a supporter of Marco Rubio for President, but this idea that somehow his administration represents a threat to immigration is an extremely disingenuous spin perpetuated by a liberal, myopic and elitist media. One of the reasons Trump was elected was because of his opposition to illegal immigration, and a complete and fair review of his words on the matter demonstrate this. America will continue to flourish as the land of free and brave immigrants.

Micah Rains, Chandigarh creative marketing consultancy Big Story Mountain

UNSURE ABOUT TRUMP

When Obama came, he was dealing with an economy that suffered the blows of recession and he has streamlined it to a very great extent. I feel Obamacare was one of the most commendable things he did, though it wasn’t implemented that effectively. I am very unsure about the US with Trump coming to power and it’s not just him being a racist. Trump has no idea of how to run the country. The decisions he makes and his twitter account speaks volumes about his calibre as a politician. I have many friends in the US who are immigrants and I am worried for them, even more for the Muslims. Post Trump’s election, racism-related crime has gone up. This is not the America I grew up in, and I am not sending my 5-year-old daughter, Haylee, to America anytime soon. I feel more comfortable in India in that case.

Devinder Singh Mahal, owner and chef at the Dev’s Cafe

Change is good

I think it is a very dignified speech that reflects on his professional ethics and the way he has conducted himself in the office. I feel change is good. Trump has succeeded as a businessman and though he has made very radical statements in the past few months and even before, I am sure that the existing framework at the senate will season him. Change is the hallmark of democracy. I work with a financial services organisation and we work closely with US customers who have home loans that shall be impacted by HAMP (home affordable modification program), which will be scrapped. When you bring in change, the idea is always to bring in what’s better. I am an Obama fan, but I don’t think America will be doomed now.

Deepika Kaur, assistant manager (HR), Ocwen Financial Corporation, a US mortgage servicing organisation

Stricter Policies

The new President-elect would have a drastic impact on Indian immigrants as his entire campaign is built around anti-immigrant propaganda. The policies would reflect lesser H1B visas, which are not favourable for deserving Indian candidates. I also feel that hate crimes would increase as Trump’s election would bring out the ugly truth of white supremacy to fore.

Khushwinder Singh Sidhu, Agriculturist, NRI (earlier based in Brampton, Canada)

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