END OF HOPE
On Bam’s last day, tears & more acts of mercy
ON HIS LAST full day in office, President Obama dropped the mic on his historic White House tenure Thursday with an emotional letter to the public and a directive to shorten the sentences of more than 300 prisoners.
Obama’s final day as commander-in-chief began as all his days did — with a briefing from his national security team.
He also bid farewell to a teary-eyed White House staff before a last lunch with Vice President Biden.
But the highlight of Obama’s otherwise quiet day was the commutation of 330 federal drug convicts’ sentences.
With his final offer of clemency, Obama brought his total number of commutations to 1,715 — more than any President in history.
“Proud to make this one of my final actions as President,” Obama tweeted from the official @POTUS account. “America is a nation of second chances, and 1,715 people deserved that shot.”
But Obama kept a low profile as President-elect Donald Trump arrived in Washington for preinauguration festivities.
The nation’s 44th President also signed off with a thank you letter to the American public.
“Throughout these eight years, you have been the source of goodness, resilience, and hope from which I’ve pulled strength,” Obama wrote in his final message to the American people as President.
“I’ve seen neighbors and communities take care of each other during the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. I have mourned with grieving families searching for answers — and found grace in a Charleston church.”
Obama was also expected to pen a letter for Trump, although it was unclear how much time will pass before the contents are made public.
Former President George W. Bush’s note to Obama, made public Thursday, told him he had begun “a fantastic chapter in your life.”
“The critics will rage,” Bush wrote in the handwritten letter. “Your ‘friends’ will disappoint you. But you will have an Almighty God to comfort you, a family who loves you, and a country that is pulling for you, including me.”