Ten days before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office, President Barack Obama will say goodbye from the city that launched his political career.
The presidential farewell will come Jan. 10 at Chicago's McCormick Place. In an email to be sent Monday, Obama said he was taking his cue from George Washington, who "set the precedent for a peaceful, democratic transfer of power" and delivered a farewell address in 1796.
"I'm just beginning to write my remarks," Obama wrote. "But I'm thinking about them as a chance to say thank you for this amazing journey, to celebrate the ways you've changed this country for the better these past eight years, and to offer some thoughts on where we all go from here."
In the email, Obama said the nation has faced a number of challenges in the past eight years, but emerged stronger.
"That's because we have never let go of a belief that has guided us ever since our founding_our conviction that, together, we can change this country for the better," he wrote.
The event will be open to the public. According to the White House website, tickets will be handed out first come, first served at McCormick Place Jan. 7.
The scheduled farewell address will bring Obama's political career as a state senator in Illinois, U.S. senator, and president full circle. When he won the presidency in 2008, Chicago hosted a victory rally in Grant Park.
