Barack Obama · 告別演説

My fellow Americans, Michelle and I have been so touched by all the well-wishes we've received over the past few weeks. But tonight it's my turn to say thanks. Whether we have seen eye-to-eye or rarely agreed at all, my conversations with you, the American people — in living rooms and schools; at farms and on factory floors; at diners and on distant military outposts — those conversations are what have kept me honest, kept me inspired, and kept me going. For this constitutional democracy demands our participation, not just every four years, but all the time. When the elections are over and the results are in, when the media cycle moves on, the harder work of forging consensus and fighting corruption and forging policy in a way that actually helps people — that requires all of us. Every day. We must grapple with a fundamental paradox. We are a government of, by, and for the people. Yet as a people we can be divided. Without some common baseline of facts, we lurch from one crisis to the next. So hold fast to your democratic values. Be bound up with the common good. Bear witness to our shared history, and call upon future generations to build upon it. Yes, we did. But the answer was never just about what I can do for you. It's about what we can do together.