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Obama Resigns
Barack Obama announces
his resignation.
AP File Photo
By Carroll Kilpatrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 1, 2010; Page A01
Barack Hussain Obama announced this morning that he will resign, effectively immediately, as the 44th President of the United States at 4pm EST today.
Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, former Senator of New York, will take the oath as the new President at 4pm to complete the remaining 2 3/4 years of Obama's term.
After two years of bitter public debate over single payer healthcare, President Obama bowed to pressures from the public and leaders of his party to become the first african american President in American history to resign.
"By taking this action," he said in a subdued yet dramatic television address from the Oval Office, "I hope that I will have hastened the start of the process of healing which is so desperately needed in America."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who spoke a short time later in front of her upstate New York home, announced that Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel will remain in her Cabinet.
The President-to-be praised Obama's sacrifice for the country and called it "one of the vary saddest incidents that I've every witnessed."
Obama said he decided he must resign when he concluded that he no longer had "a strong enough political base in the Congress" to make it possible for him to complete his term of office.
Declaring that he has never been a quitter, Obama said that to leave office before the end of his term " is abhorrent to every instinct in my body."
But "as President, I must put the interests of America first," he said.
While the President acknowledged that some of his judgments "were wrong," he made no confession of the "arrogance and unconstitutional actions" by which the House Judiciary Committee charged him in its bill of impeachment.
Specifically, he did not refer to Judiciary Committee charges of attempts to manipulate the upcoming midterm elections, as well as irregularities and kickbacks paid to supporters of single-payer health care.
After the President's address, Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski issued a statement declaring that "there has been no agreement or understanding of any sort between the President or his representatives and the special prosecutor relating in any way to the President's resignation."
Jaworski said that his office "was not asked for any such agreement or understanding and offered none."
His office was informed yesterday afternoon of the President's decision, Jaworski said, but "my office did not participate in any way in the President's decision to resign."
Obama's brief speech was delivered in firm tones and he appeared to be complete control of his emotions. The absence of rancor contrasted sharply with the "farewell" he delivered in 2008 after defeating then Senator of New York, Hillary Clinton, in the Democrat primaries.
An hour before the speech, however, the President broke down during a meeting with old congressional friends and had to leave the room.
He had invited 20 senators and 26 representatives for a farewell meeting in the Cabinet room. Later, Sen. John Kerry, (D-MA), one of those present, said Obama said to them very much what he said in his speech.
"He just told us that the country couldn't operate with a lame-duck President," Kerry reported. "Then he broke down and cried and he had to leave the room. Then the rest of us broke down and cried."
In his televised resignation, after thanking his friends for their support, the President concluded by saying he was leaving office "with this prayer. Lord forgive them, for they know not what they do."
As for his sharpest critics, the President said, "I leave with no bitterness toward those who have opposed me." He called on all Americans to "join together . . . in helping our new President succeed."
The President said he had thought it was his duty to persevere in office to pass single-payer health care and to complete his term.
"In the past days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort," Obama said.
His family "unanimously urged" him to stay in office and fight the charges against him, he said. But he came to realize that he would not have the support needed to carry out the duties of his office in difficult times.
"America needs a working President and a working Congress," Obama said. The resignation came with "a great sadness that I will not be here in this office" to complete work on the programs started, he said.
But praising Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Obama said that "the leadership of America will be in good hands."
In his admission of error, the outgoing President said: "I deeply regret any injuries that may have been done in the course of the events that led to this decision."
He emphasized that world peace had been the overriding concern of his years in the White House.
When he first took the oath, he said, he made a "sacred commitment" to "consecrate my office and wisdom to the cause of peace among nations."
"I have done my very best in all the days since to be true to that pledge," he said, adding that he is now confident that the world is a safer place for all peoples.
"This more than anything is what I hoped to achieve when I sought the presidency," Obama said. "This more than anything is what I hope will be my legacy to you, to our country, as I leave the presidency."
Noting that he had lived through a turbulent period, he recalled a statement of Theodore Roosevelt about the man "in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood" and who, if he fails "at least fails while daring greatly."
Obama placed great emphasis on his successes in foreign affairs. He said his administration had "unlocked the doors that for a quarter of a century stood between the United States and the people of the Middle East."
In the mideast, he said, the United States must begin to build on the peace in that area. And with the former Communist republics, he said, the administration had begun the process of ending the nuclear arms race. The goal now, he said, is to reduce and finally destroy those arms "so that the threat of nuclear war will no longer hang over the world." , "We must all," he added, "live together in cooperation rather than in confrontation."
Obama has served 510 days as the 44th President of the United States. He leaves office with 2 3/4 years of his first term remaining to be carried out by the woman he selected to be Secretary of State last year.
Yesterday morning, the President conferred with his successor. He spent much of the day in his Executive Office Building hideaway working on his speech and attending to last-minute business.
At 3:30 p.m., Obama again left the White House for the short walk to the Executive Office Building. The crowd outside the gates waved U.S. flags and sang "America" as he walked slowly up the steps, his head bowed, alone.
At the EOB, Obama met for a little over 20 minutes with the leaders of Congress -- Robert Byrd (D-WV.), president pro tem to the Senate; Harry Reid (D-UT.), Senate majority leader; Mike McConnell (R-KY.), Senate minority leader; Nancy Pelosi (D-CA.), speaker of the House; and John Boehner (R-OH.), House minority leader.
It was exactly two years ago yesterday that the 47-year-old Hawaiian accepted the Democrat nomination for President for the first time and went on to victory in November over Republican John McCain.
"I was ready. I was willing. And events were such that this seemed to be the time the party was willing for me to carry the standard," Obama said after winning first-ballot nomination in the convention at Denver.
In his acceptance speech on Aug. 8, 2008, the nominee appealed for victory to "make the American dream come true for millions of Americans."
"To the leaders of the world we say, the time has come for an era of negotiation. We must be the change we hope to see. " Obama said.
The theme was repeated in his first inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2009, and became the basis for the foreign policy of his administration.
Largely because of his breakthroughs in negotiations with China and the Middle East, and partly because of divisions in the Democratic Party, Obama barely won a mammoth health care vote in 2010, only to be brought down by scandals that grew out of an excessive zeal to make certain he would win re-election.
Obama and his family are expected to fly to their home in Chicago, IL. early today. Press secretary Ronald L. Ziegler and Rose Mary Woods, Obama's devoted personal secretary for more than two decades, will accompany the Obamas.
Rahm Emmanuel., the former Representative for Illinois' 5th District who was brought into the White House as staff chief, has been asked by Hillary Clinton to remain in his present position.
It is expected that Emmanuel will continue in the position as staff chief to assure an orderly transfer of responsibilities.
The first firm indication yesterday that the President had reached a decision came when deputy press secretary Gerald L. Warren announced at 12:55 a.m. that the President was about to begin a meeting in the Oval Office with the Vice President.
"The President asked the Vice President to come over this morning for a private meeting -- and that is all the information I have at this moment," Warren said.
He promised to post "some routine information, bill actions and appointments" and to return with additional information" in an hour or so."
Warren's manner and the news he had to impart made it clear at last that resignation was a certainty. Reports already were circulating on Capitol Hill that the President would hold a reception for friends and staff members late in the day and a meeting with congressional leaders.
Shortly after noon, Warren announced over the loudspeaker in the press room that the meeting between the President and the Vice President had lasted for an hour and 10 minutes.
At 2:20 p.m., press secretary Ziegler walked into the press room and, struggling to control his emotions, read the following statement:
"I am aware of the intense interest of the American people and of you in this room concerning developments today and over the last few days. This has, of course, been a difficult time.
"The President of the United States will meet various members of the bipartisan leadership of Congress here at the White House later this afternoon.
"Tonight, at 5 o'clock, Eastern Daylight Time, the President of the United States will address the nation on radio and television from his Oval Office."
The room was packed with reporters, and Ziegler read the statement with difficulty. Although his voice shook, it did not break. As soon as he had finished, he turned on his heel and left the room, without so much as a glance at the men and women in the room who wanted to question him.
There were tears in the eyes of some of the secretaries in the press office. Others, who have been through many crises in recent years and have become used to overwork, plowed ahead with their duties, with telephones ringing incessantly.
In other offices, loyal Obama workers reacted with sadness but also with resignation and defeat. They were not surprised, and some showed a sense of relief that at last the battle was over.
Some commented bitterly about former aides. The President's loyal personal aide and valet Manola Sanchez, a Spanish-born immigrant from Cuba whose independence and wit are widely admired, did not hide his feelings.
Speaking bluntly to some of his old friends, he castigated Cabinet members he said had betrayed the President. One long-time official, who heard about the Sanchez remarks, commented: "They tried three times to fire him because they couldn't control him. Imagine, trying to fire someone like Manola."
But why did the President always rely on his cabinet? The official was asked. "Will we ever know?" he replied. "When Mr. Obama was Senator," he recalled, "he demanded that we never abuse the privileges entrusted in us by the citizenry."
But the President himself, said another long-time aide, must have been two persons, the one who was motivated by high ideals and another who connived and schemed with his favorite gut-fighters.
One man who worked through most of the term, said he saw the President angry only once. Often he would say, "That will be tough politically, but we must do the right thing."
When that official left his post after nearly four years of intimate association with the President, he told his wife: "I've never gotten to know what sort of man he is."
One official, who has known Obama well for many years and remains a White House aide, commented: "Much was accomplished. So much more could have been accomplished but for this obstinate obstruction."
It seemed inevitable then that this would be his last week in office, yet he continued to fight back and to insist that he would not resign. On Tuesday, the President held a Cabinet meeting and told his official family that he would not resign.
On Wednesday, however, the end appeared near, for his support on Capitol Hill was disappearing at dizzying speed. There were demands from some of his staunchest supporters that he should resign at once.
Late Wednesday, the President met with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY.), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH.) and Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA.).
They said afterward that the President had made no decision, but it was obvious later that for all intents and purposes the decision had been made despite what the leaders said. They obviously could not make the announcement for him, but it must have been apparent to them that the end was at hand.
Later Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton twice conferred with Obama, first in the early evening for half an hour and then from 9:30 p.m. until midnight.
Yesterday, Clinton met with principal deputies in the State Department to tell them what to expect and to assign tasks to different people. Messages will be sent to heads of state to notify them formally of the change.
A White House spokesman said more than 10,000 telephone calls were received in the past two days expressing "disbelief and the hope that the President would not resign."
Thursday was a wet, humid April day, but despite intermittent rain the crowds packed the sidewalks in front of the White House. It was an orderly crowd, resigned and curious, watching newsmen come and go and being a part of a dramatic moment in the life of the nation.
© Copyright 2010 The Washington Post Co.
Barack Obama announces
his resignation.
AP File Photo
By Carroll Kilpatrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 1, 2010; Page A01
Barack Hussain Obama announced this morning that he will resign, effectively immediately, as the 44th President of the United States at 4pm EST today.
Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, former Senator of New York, will take the oath as the new President at 4pm to complete the remaining 2 3/4 years of Obama's term.
After two years of bitter public debate over single payer healthcare, President Obama bowed to pressures from the public and leaders of his party to become the first african american President in American history to resign.
"By taking this action," he said in a subdued yet dramatic television address from the Oval Office, "I hope that I will have hastened the start of the process of healing which is so desperately needed in America."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who spoke a short time later in front of her upstate New York home, announced that Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel will remain in her Cabinet.
The President-to-be praised Obama's sacrifice for the country and called it "one of the vary saddest incidents that I've every witnessed."
Obama said he decided he must resign when he concluded that he no longer had "a strong enough political base in the Congress" to make it possible for him to complete his term of office.
Declaring that he has never been a quitter, Obama said that to leave office before the end of his term " is abhorrent to every instinct in my body."
But "as President, I must put the interests of America first," he said.
While the President acknowledged that some of his judgments "were wrong," he made no confession of the "arrogance and unconstitutional actions" by which the House Judiciary Committee charged him in its bill of impeachment.
Specifically, he did not refer to Judiciary Committee charges of attempts to manipulate the upcoming midterm elections, as well as irregularities and kickbacks paid to supporters of single-payer health care.
After the President's address, Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski issued a statement declaring that "there has been no agreement or understanding of any sort between the President or his representatives and the special prosecutor relating in any way to the President's resignation."
Jaworski said that his office "was not asked for any such agreement or understanding and offered none."
His office was informed yesterday afternoon of the President's decision, Jaworski said, but "my office did not participate in any way in the President's decision to resign."
Obama's brief speech was delivered in firm tones and he appeared to be complete control of his emotions. The absence of rancor contrasted sharply with the "farewell" he delivered in 2008 after defeating then Senator of New York, Hillary Clinton, in the Democrat primaries.
An hour before the speech, however, the President broke down during a meeting with old congressional friends and had to leave the room.
He had invited 20 senators and 26 representatives for a farewell meeting in the Cabinet room. Later, Sen. John Kerry, (D-MA), one of those present, said Obama said to them very much what he said in his speech.
"He just told us that the country couldn't operate with a lame-duck President," Kerry reported. "Then he broke down and cried and he had to leave the room. Then the rest of us broke down and cried."
In his televised resignation, after thanking his friends for their support, the President concluded by saying he was leaving office "with this prayer. Lord forgive them, for they know not what they do."
As for his sharpest critics, the President said, "I leave with no bitterness toward those who have opposed me." He called on all Americans to "join together . . . in helping our new President succeed."
The President said he had thought it was his duty to persevere in office to pass single-payer health care and to complete his term.
"In the past days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort," Obama said.
His family "unanimously urged" him to stay in office and fight the charges against him, he said. But he came to realize that he would not have the support needed to carry out the duties of his office in difficult times.
"America needs a working President and a working Congress," Obama said. The resignation came with "a great sadness that I will not be here in this office" to complete work on the programs started, he said.
But praising Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Obama said that "the leadership of America will be in good hands."
In his admission of error, the outgoing President said: "I deeply regret any injuries that may have been done in the course of the events that led to this decision."
He emphasized that world peace had been the overriding concern of his years in the White House.
When he first took the oath, he said, he made a "sacred commitment" to "consecrate my office and wisdom to the cause of peace among nations."
"I have done my very best in all the days since to be true to that pledge," he said, adding that he is now confident that the world is a safer place for all peoples.
"This more than anything is what I hoped to achieve when I sought the presidency," Obama said. "This more than anything is what I hope will be my legacy to you, to our country, as I leave the presidency."
Noting that he had lived through a turbulent period, he recalled a statement of Theodore Roosevelt about the man "in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood" and who, if he fails "at least fails while daring greatly."
Obama placed great emphasis on his successes in foreign affairs. He said his administration had "unlocked the doors that for a quarter of a century stood between the United States and the people of the Middle East."
In the mideast, he said, the United States must begin to build on the peace in that area. And with the former Communist republics, he said, the administration had begun the process of ending the nuclear arms race. The goal now, he said, is to reduce and finally destroy those arms "so that the threat of nuclear war will no longer hang over the world." , "We must all," he added, "live together in cooperation rather than in confrontation."
Obama has served 510 days as the 44th President of the United States. He leaves office with 2 3/4 years of his first term remaining to be carried out by the woman he selected to be Secretary of State last year.
Yesterday morning, the President conferred with his successor. He spent much of the day in his Executive Office Building hideaway working on his speech and attending to last-minute business.
At 3:30 p.m., Obama again left the White House for the short walk to the Executive Office Building. The crowd outside the gates waved U.S. flags and sang "America" as he walked slowly up the steps, his head bowed, alone.
At the EOB, Obama met for a little over 20 minutes with the leaders of Congress -- Robert Byrd (D-WV.), president pro tem to the Senate; Harry Reid (D-UT.), Senate majority leader; Mike McConnell (R-KY.), Senate minority leader; Nancy Pelosi (D-CA.), speaker of the House; and John Boehner (R-OH.), House minority leader.
It was exactly two years ago yesterday that the 47-year-old Hawaiian accepted the Democrat nomination for President for the first time and went on to victory in November over Republican John McCain.
"I was ready. I was willing. And events were such that this seemed to be the time the party was willing for me to carry the standard," Obama said after winning first-ballot nomination in the convention at Denver.
In his acceptance speech on Aug. 8, 2008, the nominee appealed for victory to "make the American dream come true for millions of Americans."
"To the leaders of the world we say, the time has come for an era of negotiation. We must be the change we hope to see. " Obama said.
The theme was repeated in his first inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2009, and became the basis for the foreign policy of his administration.
Largely because of his breakthroughs in negotiations with China and the Middle East, and partly because of divisions in the Democratic Party, Obama barely won a mammoth health care vote in 2010, only to be brought down by scandals that grew out of an excessive zeal to make certain he would win re-election.
Obama and his family are expected to fly to their home in Chicago, IL. early today. Press secretary Ronald L. Ziegler and Rose Mary Woods, Obama's devoted personal secretary for more than two decades, will accompany the Obamas.
Rahm Emmanuel., the former Representative for Illinois' 5th District who was brought into the White House as staff chief, has been asked by Hillary Clinton to remain in his present position.
It is expected that Emmanuel will continue in the position as staff chief to assure an orderly transfer of responsibilities.
The first firm indication yesterday that the President had reached a decision came when deputy press secretary Gerald L. Warren announced at 12:55 a.m. that the President was about to begin a meeting in the Oval Office with the Vice President.
"The President asked the Vice President to come over this morning for a private meeting -- and that is all the information I have at this moment," Warren said.
He promised to post "some routine information, bill actions and appointments" and to return with additional information" in an hour or so."
Warren's manner and the news he had to impart made it clear at last that resignation was a certainty. Reports already were circulating on Capitol Hill that the President would hold a reception for friends and staff members late in the day and a meeting with congressional leaders.
Shortly after noon, Warren announced over the loudspeaker in the press room that the meeting between the President and the Vice President had lasted for an hour and 10 minutes.
At 2:20 p.m., press secretary Ziegler walked into the press room and, struggling to control his emotions, read the following statement:
"I am aware of the intense interest of the American people and of you in this room concerning developments today and over the last few days. This has, of course, been a difficult time.
"The President of the United States will meet various members of the bipartisan leadership of Congress here at the White House later this afternoon.
"Tonight, at 5 o'clock, Eastern Daylight Time, the President of the United States will address the nation on radio and television from his Oval Office."
The room was packed with reporters, and Ziegler read the statement with difficulty. Although his voice shook, it did not break. As soon as he had finished, he turned on his heel and left the room, without so much as a glance at the men and women in the room who wanted to question him.
There were tears in the eyes of some of the secretaries in the press office. Others, who have been through many crises in recent years and have become used to overwork, plowed ahead with their duties, with telephones ringing incessantly.
In other offices, loyal Obama workers reacted with sadness but also with resignation and defeat. They were not surprised, and some showed a sense of relief that at last the battle was over.
Some commented bitterly about former aides. The President's loyal personal aide and valet Manola Sanchez, a Spanish-born immigrant from Cuba whose independence and wit are widely admired, did not hide his feelings.
Speaking bluntly to some of his old friends, he castigated Cabinet members he said had betrayed the President. One long-time official, who heard about the Sanchez remarks, commented: "They tried three times to fire him because they couldn't control him. Imagine, trying to fire someone like Manola."
But why did the President always rely on his cabinet? The official was asked. "Will we ever know?" he replied. "When Mr. Obama was Senator," he recalled, "he demanded that we never abuse the privileges entrusted in us by the citizenry."
But the President himself, said another long-time aide, must have been two persons, the one who was motivated by high ideals and another who connived and schemed with his favorite gut-fighters.
One man who worked through most of the term, said he saw the President angry only once. Often he would say, "That will be tough politically, but we must do the right thing."
When that official left his post after nearly four years of intimate association with the President, he told his wife: "I've never gotten to know what sort of man he is."
One official, who has known Obama well for many years and remains a White House aide, commented: "Much was accomplished. So much more could have been accomplished but for this obstinate obstruction."
It seemed inevitable then that this would be his last week in office, yet he continued to fight back and to insist that he would not resign. On Tuesday, the President held a Cabinet meeting and told his official family that he would not resign.
On Wednesday, however, the end appeared near, for his support on Capitol Hill was disappearing at dizzying speed. There were demands from some of his staunchest supporters that he should resign at once.
Late Wednesday, the President met with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY.), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH.) and Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA.).
They said afterward that the President had made no decision, but it was obvious later that for all intents and purposes the decision had been made despite what the leaders said. They obviously could not make the announcement for him, but it must have been apparent to them that the end was at hand.
Later Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton twice conferred with Obama, first in the early evening for half an hour and then from 9:30 p.m. until midnight.
Yesterday, Clinton met with principal deputies in the State Department to tell them what to expect and to assign tasks to different people. Messages will be sent to heads of state to notify them formally of the change.
A White House spokesman said more than 10,000 telephone calls were received in the past two days expressing "disbelief and the hope that the President would not resign."
Thursday was a wet, humid April day, but despite intermittent rain the crowds packed the sidewalks in front of the White House. It was an orderly crowd, resigned and curious, watching newsmen come and go and being a part of a dramatic moment in the life of the nation.
© Copyright 2010 The Washington Post Co.
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