'I am asking you to believe' - Obama delivers final speech to the American People

'God bless you and may God continue to bless the United States of America.'

Barack Obama delivered his farewell address Tuesday night on January 10, 2017 before a massive crowd of supporters who refused to settle as he stepped on stage.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - In a speech he wrote himself, the President of the United States spoke of his administration's accomplishments, warned against racism and called for solidarity.

Speaking from McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, Obama thanked the American people who "have kept me honest, kept me inspired and kept me going."

The President explained every day he learned something new from the people, who helped make him a better president and a better man.

He described his first years in Chicago, where he struggled to understand who he was and the purpose for his life. he worked with church groups and "witnessed the power of faith and the quiet dignity of working people in the face of struggle and loss."

His time in Chicago taught him of the possibilities ordinary people create simply by being involved, engaged and uniting to demand change. It was that realization he kept at the heart of his 8-year presidency and still firmly believes.

"It's the beating heart of our American idea - our bold experiment in self-government. It's the conviction that we are all created equal, endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights - among them, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Obama continued, explaining the founders of Democracy allowed for the freedom to follow individual dreams and the ability to join together "to achieve a greater good."

Progress may have come slowly and unevenly but Obama thanked "the work of democracy," which was at times bloody and sometimes felt "for every two steps forward, it often feels we take one step back," but overall America has been moving forward from embracing the few to embracing all.

He spoke of the great accomplishments his administration achieved during the past eight years, saying:

"If I had told you eight years ago that America would reverse a great recession, reboot our auto industry and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our history...if I had told you that we would open up a new chapter with the Cuban people, shut down Iran's nuclear weapons program without firing a shot and take out the master mind of 9/11...if I had told you that we would win marriage equality and secure the right to health insurance for another 20 million of our fellow citizens - you might have said our sights were set a little too high.

"But that's what we did. That's what you did. You were the change. You answered people's hopes and, because of you, by almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it was when we started."

Obama continued, saying in ten days there will be a peaceful transfer of power "from one freely elected president to the next" in the hallmark of American democracy.

President Obama may have been against trump from the beginning of the election cycle but during his farewell speech he announced his commitment to the president-elect, saying his administration "would ensure the smoothest possible transition, just as President Bush did for me. Because it's up to all of us to make sure our government can help us meet the many challenges we still face."

He talked up the United States, as the "wealthiest, most powerful and most respected nation on Earth," adding "Our youth and drive, our diversity and openness, our boundless capacity for risk and reinvention mean that the future should be ours."

The President explained potential is realized when democracy works and politics need to reflect "the decency of our people," so Americans need to stand together on common ground, regardless of individual interests.

Obama specified democracy doesn't necessarily require uniformity. In fact, "our founders quarreled and compromised and expected us to do the same" - but democracy does require, at least in the most basic sense, solidarity.

How America meets oncoming challenges will determine its future. Obama happily stated how wages, incomes, home values and retirement funds are growing while poverty is steadily falling. All the good the U.S. has seen is real progress but we are not done yet.

There are no quick fixes to existing problems, such as the wage gap or the top 1 percent who has amassed the greatest share of wealth and income, but Obama said with the right goals and by standing together, the United States can progress.

To move forward, Obama called the American people to "uphold laws against discrimination - in hiring, in housing, in education and the criminal justice system." He acknowledged laws aren't enough to change the democracy of our nation, saying we all must listen to "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.'"

Speaking to minorities, Obama explained Finch's line "means tying our own struggles for justice to the challenges that a lot of people in this country face - the refugee, the immigrant, the rural poor, the transgender American and also the middle-aged white man who from the outside may seem like he's got all the advantages but who's seen his world upended by economic, cultural and technological change."

To white Americans, Obama explained it means "the effects of slavery and Jim Crow didn't suddenly vanish in the 60s, that when minority groups voice discontent, they're not just engaging in reverse racism or practicing political correctness, that when they wage peaceful protest, they're not demanding special treatment, but the equal treatment our Founders promised."

To native-born Americans, Obama said the line reminds us "the stereotypes about immigrants today were said, almost word for word, about the Irish, Italians and Poles. America wasn't weakened by the presence of these newcomers, they embraced this nation's creed and it was strengthened."

He spent several minutes discussing the problem with politics, division and lack of bold action then moved to fear created by violent fanatics who try to pose a threat to democracy.

Obama honored the "extraordinary courage of our men and women in uniform and the intelligence officers, law enforcement and diplomats who support them," thanking them all for keeping all foreign terror organizations from attacking the United States since 9/11.

"But protecting our way of life requires more than our military," Obama continued. "Democracy can buckle when we give in to fear. So just as we, as citizens, must remain vigilant against external aggression, we must guard against a weakening of values that make us who we are."

The President called Americans to remain vigilant but not afraid.

He reiterated the importance of standing together, striving for greater common goals and "accepting the responsibility of citizenship, regardless of which way the pendulum of power swings."

Obama listed several amazing moments he witnessed during his presidency and believes ordinary Americans are the future of change in the United States.

In a smooth transition, Obama thanked his wife, Michelle, for her works as well. Her accomplishments made him proud, and made "the country proud," then honored his children for the way they've grown into "two amazing young women, smart and beautiful but, more importantly, kind and thoughtful and full of passion."

He thanked Joe Biden and explained Biden was his first and best choice as a nominee "Not just because you have been a great vice president but because in the bargain I gained a brother."

Obama moved on to thanking his staff, organizers, the American people and new generations who demand equality and positive change.

"My fellow Americans, it has been the honor of my life to serve you. I won't stop;in fact, I will be right there with you as a citizen for all my days that remain. For now, whether you're young or young at heart, I do have one final ask of you as your president - the same thing I asked when you took a chance on me eight years ago.

"I am asking you to believe. Not in my ability to bring about change - but in yours. 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.

Thank you. God bless you and may God continue to bless the United States of America."

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