Mr. President, you got a great name. Barack Obama, what a cool name.
You persuaded many to believe, to trust, and hold dearly to ideals like justice, equality, peace, and fairness.
Many were unsure that a person without a traditional name like Bush, Carter, Clinton, Ford, Nixon, or Reagan would ever be president.
Now a person named Obama led the free world. And did it well, with grace and dignity.
Heck, I’m a Jopek. Won’t find too many of us in Montana. There are hundreds of unique surnames in our valley. We all resonate of family.
From before the day you put on a bracelet honoring Sgt. Ryan D. Jopek to remind yourself of our fallen heroes, to now as a private citizen, you, Mr. President, believed in us.
Mr. President, you reintroduced us to hope. Hope that we can be kind to each other, and optimism that better days lay ahead.
Eight years ago, Mr. President, you spoke words in New Hampshire that became the bedrock of a vision, “Yes, we can.” As you depart from service you said, “Yes, we did.”
Mr. President, you inspired us to work hard and play hard, in school and in life. You moved us to believe that through commitment, we all make tremendous progress.
Mr. President, eight years ago it looked gloomy. Our economy was on the skids, unemployment was through the roof, and our homes were being foreclosed.
It was a dark economic time in our history. Nearly one in five of us were out of work. Many lives’ worth of pensions had vanished.
Mr. President, unemployment is again low. America witnessed the longest-ever job creation streak, a soaring stock market, high school graduation rates at their best, and more than 90 percent of us enjoy healthcare coverage.
Twenty million more Americans have health insurance because of you, Mr. President. Those are real lives. Denials over preexisting medical conditions like celiac disease and gluten intolerance is history.
Mr. President, you gave me hope. When we were young, in college, it depressed us to watch a president remove solar panels off the White House roof.
But Mr. President, you put so much energy into power that solar panels, electric cars, or windmills have never been cheaper or more accessible.
You did this, Mr. President, through courage and with poise.
Mr. President, you brought tears into people’s eyes with eloquent words. Those words turned hope into action. And stuff happened.
Your hope assured that our usage of foreign oil was cut in half, and 165,000 American servicemen and servicewomen returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Diplomacy shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
When you came onto the scene eight years ago, Mr. President, four states allowed marriage equality. Today our entire nation allows people to marry regardless of gender. Mr. President, you assured that three women are seated on the Supreme Court and women cannot be charged more for health insurance.
Mr. President you inspired a generation of young people to get active in things like FoodCorps and other national service. The food in our schools is better thanks to First Lady Michelle Obama. She served, like you said, “with grace and grit and style and good humor.”
Small farmers, like me, are again a part of the national food dialogue.
Mr. President, we remember 2008. It was a dark place. Things did not look good. Yet your confidence in us was great. You trusted, and moved us forward with abundant expectation.
Mr. President, for eight years you had our back. We thank you.
Mr. Obama, take the family on a weeks-long vacation. You earned it. You’ve done well by America. You inspired us to believe, to hope, and to act. Yes we will, Mr. President.