The president’s farewell tour is entering its final stretch and now there’s a farewell video with lots of famous faces—from movie stars to sports icons—talking about President Barack Obama’s eight years in office. In the White House video titled, “Yes We Can: People Share Their Most Memorable Moments From the Obama Presidency,” lots of celebrities (and some regular people too!) detail their favorite landmarks of the president’s two terms in office. Specifically, “What’s a moment that made you say, ‘Yes we can’?”
After those words appear on the screen, the video goes on for five minutes with people describing what they’ll most remember from Obama’s tenure. Some were specific. “When he just changed all the rules on the table in regards to Cuba with the most succinct motivation imaginable, which is ‘What we’ve been doing hasn’t worked’—which made all the sense in the world,” Tom Hanks said. Leonardo DiCaprio unsurprisingly mentioned global warming: “When I was at the U.N. and I heard our president say that climate change is the most important issue facing, not only this generation but also future generations—it was inspiring.” Samuel L. Jackson mentions health care: “The moment that we got the Affordable Care Act passed.”
Others decided to talk a bit more personally. Jerry Seinfeld, for example, noted that knocking on the Oval Office window was “the peak of my entire existence” while Ellen DeGeneres remembered “dancing with Barack at his birthday party.”
The most poignant memories though come from those who take a step back and talk about the historic nature of Obama’s presidency. “You really felt those first three words of the constitution, ‘We the people,’ ” Kerry Washington said. “It was one of the first times in my life that I felt like I was really a part of that ‘we.’ ” And Michael Jordan summarized it all with a sports reference. “How often do we remember Jackie Robinson? Everybody knows him,” Jordan said. “To me, he will be the Jackie Robinson of politics.”
Obama will be giving his final speech on Tuesday, and thousands lined up for hours in the freezing Chicago cold to try to get tickets to the historic event.
