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President Barack Obama’s farewell speech recapped

President Barack Obama wipes his tears as he speaks at McCormick Place in Chicago, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, giving his presidential farewell address. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

CHICAGO (AP) — The Latest on President Barack Obama’s farewell speech (all times CST):

8:55 p.m.

President Barack Obama says choosing Joe Biden to be his vice president was the first and best choice he made.

He says Biden — “the scrappy kid from Scranton who became Delaware’s favorite son” — has not only been a great vice president during the past eight years, but he also was an unexpected gift. Obama says that in Biden, he gained a brother.

Obama says he loves Biden and his wife, Jill, like family. He says their friendship has been one of the “great joys” for the Obama family.

The Bidens were in the audience at Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center for Obama’s farewell address.

Obama and Biden embraced onstage after the speech.

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8:50 p.m.

President Barack Obama says the nation’s democracy needs more citizen involvement.

Obama says in his farewell speech in Chicago that “if you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the internet, trying talking with one of them in real life.”

He’s encouraging citizens who are disappointed by their elected officials to “grab a clipboard, get some signatures” and run for office.

Obama is offering this advice: “Show up. Dive in. Stay at it. Sometimes you’ll win. Sometimes you’ll lose.”

He says more often than not “your faith in America” will be confirmed.

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8:45 p.m.

President Barack Obama is thanking his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha for sacrificing for his political dreams.

He’s noting in his farewell address that his partner for the past 25 years took on a role she didn’t want and made it her own with “grace and grit and style and good humor.” He says the first lady is a role model who turned the White House into a place that belongs to everybody.

Obama tells his wife that she has made him and the country proud. Obama paused for a few seconds and pressed his lips together to regain his composure while thanking the first lady.

Only 18-year-old Malia traveled to Chicago for the speech, but Obama says both daughters “wore the burden of years in the spotlight so easily.”

He says that of everything he’s done in life he’s most proud to be their dad.

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8:40 p.m.

President Barack Obama says in his farewell address that protecting the nation’s way of life is the job of citizens as well as the military.

Obama says in Chicago that “democracy can buckle when we give in to fear.”

He is also making a reference to President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign calls for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration to the United States.

Obama says he rejects discrimination against Muslim Americans, and he is drawing cheers for saying they are “just as patriotic as we are.”

The outgoing president says the U.S. can’t withdraw from global fights to expand democracy, human rights and the rights of women, gays and lesbians.

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8:30 p.m.

President Barack Obama says talk of a post-racial America after his 2008 election may have been well-intended, but it “was never realistic.”

Obama — who is 55 years old — says in his farewell address that he’s lived long enough to know that race relations are better than they were 30 years ago. But he says he also knows “we’re not where we need to be.”

He says every economic issue can’t be framed as a struggle between hardworking middle-class whites and undeserving minorities, and says forsaking the children of immigrants will diminish the prospects of American children.

Obama says hearts must change. He quotes the hero of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Atticus Finch, who said that to understand a person, it helps to “climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

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8:25 p.m.

President Barack Obama is acknowledging that “stark inequality” is corrosive to the nation’s democratic principles, a nod to the economic uncertainty that helped Republican Donald Trump win the White House last November.

Obama says in his final speech as president that too many families in inner cities and rural counties have been left behind. He says many are convinced that the “game is fixed against them” and government only serves powerful interests.

The president calls that a “recipe for more cynicism and polarization in our politics.”

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8:15 p.m.

President Barack Obama says in his farewell address that in 10 days the world will witness the peaceful transfer of power to a new president, drawing some jeers ahead of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Obama says he committed to Trump that his administration would “ensure the smoothest possible transition” just as his predecessor, President George W. Bush, did for him.

The outgoing president says in Chicago “it’s up to all of us to make sure our government can help us meet the many challenges we still face.”

Obama says the nation’s politics need to reflect “the decency” of the American people.

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8:10 p.m.

President Barack Obama is opening his farewell address in his hometown of Chicago, thanking thousands of supporters and reaffirming his belief in the power of change.

Obama was harkening back to the message of his first campaign for president in 2008.

At one point, he was interrupted by chants of “Four more years!”

Obama says, “I can’t do that.”

In the aftermath of Republican Donald Trump’s election as the next president, Obama is acknowledging that the nation’s progress has been “uneven.” He says that for “every two steps forward, it often feels we take one step back.”

But the president says the country strives for “forward motion, a constant widening of our founding creed to embrace all, and not just some.”

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6:30 p.m.

President Barack Obama plans to reaffirm in his farewell address his belief that change only happens when “ordinary people get involved, get engaged and come together to demand it.”

Obama plans to say that after eight years in the White House he still believes in the power of change. The outgoing president plans to tell supporters in the city that launched his political career that change is the “beating heart of our American idea — our bold experiment in self-government.”

Obama will note the founding fathers gave Americans the freedom to “chase our individual dreams through our sweat, toil and imagination.”

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4 p.m.

President Barack Obama’s final trip aboard Air Force One as president is his 445th mission on the presidential aircraft.

Obama is flying to Chicago to give his final presidential speech. The White House says he’s traveled on the plane to 56 countries and to 49 of the 50 U.S. states. He’s visited all 50 but never flown to Maryland.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest tells reporters aboard Air Force One that prior to Tuesday’s flight, the plane had been airborne for 2,799 hours and 6 minutes during Obama’s tenure. That’s equivalent to spending 116 days on the plane.

Earnest says Air Force One is “a national treasure.” He says Obama benefited deeply from use of the plane.

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3:25 p.m.

President Barack Obama is taking an array of longtime friends, staffers and relatives along for his last trip as president.

Obama boarded Air Force One for the flight to Chicago along with first lady Michelle Obama, daughter Malia and sister Auma Obama, who is from Kenya. They were joined by Obama speechwriter Cody Keenan, national security adviser Susan Rice and counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco.

Vice President Joe Biden and his wife are also traveling to Chicago for the speech on a separate aircraft.

The White House says that before taking off from Andrews Air Force Base, Obama attended a farewell event with members of the U.S. Air Force division that supports presidential air travel.

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3 p.m.

President Barack Obama is returning to the city that launched his unlikely political career to give one final speech.

He’ll deliver a parting plea to Americans not to lose faith in their future, no matter what they think about their next president.

Obama’s speech before thousands in Chicago on Tuesday evening is his last chance to try to define what his presidency meant for America, and a fitting bookend. Chicago is where the nation’s first black president declared victory in 2008 and where he cultivated his decidedly optimistic brand of American politics.

Obama says in a video preview that he’ll be reflecting on lessons learned from his presidency, including that Americans are fundamentally good and that the democratic system responds to ordinary people pursuing a better future.

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1 comment

Tom Jones January 11, 2017 at 1:50 pm

Maybe I just don’t remember, but I don’t recall former Presidents giving prime time, televised farewell speeches before. Obama is so concerned with his legacy that he has to try and convince us what it should be. Sorry Obama, history will judge what your legacy will be, not what you say it is. Has there ever been a bigger narcissist in the office?

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