President BarackObama, flanked by Vice President Joe Biden promised a smooth transition to President-Elect Donald Trump.
“We are now all rooting for his success,” said Obama. He said that he understands why some are sad after the hard-fought election, but we are “Americans first” and likened the presidency to a relay race and he was handing off to Trump to run the next leg.
Obama then spoke directly to young people who may be disappointed by the the Trump victory. He said you can’t get cynical. “Don’t ever think you can’t make a difference.” He then quoted Hillary Clinton’s concession speech this morning. “Fighting for what is right is worth it.”
“I’ve lost elections before. Joe hasn’t,” he said pointing to Vice President Joe Biden who reached over to give Obama a hug. “Remember you beat me badly,” said Biden referring to the 2008 Democratic presidential race.
“That’s the way politics works sometimes. We try really hard to persuade people that we’re right. And then people lose. And if we lose, we learn from our mistakes. We do some reflection. We lick our wounds. We brush ourselves off. We get back in the arena. We go at it. We try even harder the next time.
“The point though is we all go forward with the presumption of good faith in our fellow citizens. Because that presumption of good faith is essential to a vibrant and functioning democracy.”