Goodbye, Mr. President

Obama had his farewell speech. If you’re young enough, he’s the only president you really knew. He was cool—composed, thoughtful, the kind of articulate that felt like a relief when he spoke. Yeah, there’s all the stuff that fell short: NSA, Guantanamo, the compromises. I’m not pretending he was some perfect thing. But there was something there, a dignity and intelligence you could just see.

And then Trump. I can’t really picture what’s about to happen. He won’t do anything right—not by any measure I care about. It’s all so naked: money, power, using the office to make himself richer. Probably been jerking off to the idea of it for months.

There’s something surreal about watching someone leave after eight years knowing the next guy is just going to torch it all for tax breaks and real estate. It’s absurd and completely real at once. You want to laugh and throw up.

I’ll miss him. Not in some sentimental way, but actually. His farewell is the kind of thing you hold onto, even if you’re cynical about how much it mattered.