Farewell to the Obama Administration

The big news from President Barack Obama's final day in office was a decision to commute 330 drug sentences, as reported by the Associated Press. In a separate article for The Washington Post, Sari Horwitz put the action in context: "His final group of clemencies was the most Obama granted in a day and the most granted on one day in U.S. history."

Articles examining President Obama's legacy have been abundant in recent months and weeks. The final days of the Obama Administration were no different.

• Dana Varinsky reported for Business Insider on one of those matters of significance, listing and describing "every piece of land Obama has put under protection during his presidency." By creating 34 national monuments, President Obama set a record.
• Mike Konczal wrote for Dissent magazine on the austerity of the Obama years, which Konczal argues is a result of the Great Recession and a likely cause of the election of Donald Trump as Obama's successor.
• The National Equity Atlas posted an article that highlights New Orleans as an example of the Obama Administration's unprecedented support of fair housing, including the adoption of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule.
• Vox tweeted a video calling Obama "one of the most consequential presidents in American history."

Obama's presidency has left a huge mark on American history. What happens next? pic.twitter.com/L8lAcK8o42

— Vox (@voxdotcom) January 19, 2017

President Obama himself took time to write a letter to the American people, thanking the country for making him a better man.

Keeping in mind the finality of the day, President Obama now sets the stage for the Trump Administration, which will now have to build its own legacy. Danielle Kurtzleben shares a host of data that illustrate the state of the country the President Trump has inherited. The article provides data on the economy, politics, crime/justice, immigration, foreign policy, the environment, health policy, and health outcomes. The article amounts to a massive data dump, setting a thorough baseline of comparison for the incoming Trump Administration.

Because President Obama is cherished by many as the first Black president, and a unique character regardless of his race and position, a few articles ventured to capture the measure of the man, separate from federal politics.

• Emily Crockett shared writing by Obama on why he self-identifies as a feminist.
• Clay Skipper and Jay Willis spoke with a group of professional basketball players about Obama's skills on the basketball court.
• The Associated Press detailed Obama's history of embracing hip-hop culture, calling him the nation's first "hip-hop commander-in-chief."

Finally, we at Planetizen have been following the Obama Administration closely since before Day 1 of his presidency. The collection of all the articles we ever tagged under the category of "Obama Administration" will stand as a record of President Obama's goals, achievements, struggles, and failures.