Obama urges unity, hope with Thanksgiving address
In a video message released on Thanksgiving Day, President Obama pushed Americans to unite following a “noisy, passionate and sometimes divisive campaign season.”
“Elections are often where we emphasize what sets us apart,” the president acknowledged in a video published to YouTube on Thursday. “We face off in a contest of ‘us’ versus ‘them.’ We focus on the candidate we support instead of some of the ideals we share.”
“But a few short weeks later, Thanksgiving reminds us that no matter our differences, we are still one people, part of something bigger than ourselves,” he continued. “We are communities that move forward together. We are neighbors who look out for one another, especially those among us with the least. We are always, simply, Americans.”
The president invoked Abraham Lincoln in his address, who first proclaimed Thanksgiving to be a national holiday where the nation’s gifts “should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people.”
“Through the fog of civil war, President Lincoln saw what mattered most - the unalienable truths for which so many gave their lives, and which made possible ‘a new birth of freedom,’” Mr. Obama said. “And so precisely when the fate of the Union hung in the balance, he boldly proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving.”
The president’s message comes just as Americans continue to protest the victory of Donald Trump in the general election, even as the president-elect readies his Cabinet appointments and works toward his transition to the White House.
In an address that seemed to speak directly to the fears of some for their future under Mr. Trump’s administration, President Obama urged Americans to continue to hope.
“As long as we continue to welcome the contributions of all people, as long as we stand up for each other, speak out for what is right and stay true to these ideals - not just when it’s easy, but when it’s hard - then no one can ever take away our liberty,” he said. “Our best days will always be ahead.”
President-elect Trump delivered his own Thanksgiving greetings, with a similar message for national healing, in a video released Wednesday.
“Emotions are raw and tensions just don’t heal overnight,” Mr. Trump said in the video. “It doesn’t go quickly, unfortunately, but we have before us the chance now to make history together to bring real change to Washington, real safety to our cities and real prosperity to our communities, including our inner cities. So important to me, and so important to our country.”
