Considered, for
\nthe last eight years, the most powerful man on the planet, Barack Obama last
\nnight delivered his farewell speech as acting president. Commentators have
\nnoted the spectacular setting for his address. Gathered in the centre of
\nChicago, where the president’s children were born and where he began his
\njourney to the White House, 20,000 people listened to the president. <\/p>\n
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A leit-motif of
\nhis rhetoric, ordinary Americans were again celebrated by the president as a
\ndriving force of change and guarantors of democracy. According to a poll
\npublished right before his speech, 55% of Americans approve of the president’s
\nactions as head of state and only 39% say they are disappointed with his two
\nterms in office. The president himself said America is a better, stronger place than it was eight years
\nago. He called, however, on his fellow Americans to defend their democracy,
\nwhich he sees as being threatened by economic inequality, racial division and
\nthe isolation of certain sections of society. Ignoring these problems would be
\nto betray both future generations and America’s founders, Obama warned. <\/p>\n
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As far as his foreign policy
\nlegacy is concerned, commentators are divided. They all hail, however, the
\nelimination of the Al-Qaida leader Ossama Bin Laden by an American commando,
\nmaintaining solid links with the country’s allies in Europe and opening the
\ncountry to the Asia-Pacific area. On the other hand, analysts note that it was
\nduring Obama’s presidency that a vengeful Russia dared, for the first time
\nsince the end of the Cold War, re-annex foreign territory, the Ukrainian Crimean
\nPeninsula. Moreover, the illusion of the entire West, including Washington,
\nwith regard to the democratic future of the so-called Arab spring in fact
\ntransformed the Middle East and North Africa into an inferno. In Libya, Yemen,
\nIraq and Tunisia, abusive and corrupt, albeit secular and relatively stable,
\nregimes were replaced by chaos, fertile ground for the emergence of jihadist
\ngroups, with millions of people trying to escape forcing Europe’s land and
\nmaritime borders. Commentators also say that Obama has alienated Israel,
\nAmerica’s most consistent regional ally and the region’s only functional
\ndemocracy. <\/p>\n
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America’s first black president
\nthus leaves his successor, the controversial magnate Donald Trump, with a lot
\nof hot files. Already made vulnerable by scandals both during the election
\ncampaign and after winning the presidential race, Trump will be sworn in on the
\n20th of January at a time when only one third of Americans approve
\nof his actions, according to opinion polls. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In his farewell address in Chicago, US president Barack Obama called on Americans to defend their democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":71567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[29549],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-71566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-barack-obama"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n