And full of wonderful people who were proud of their communities, proud of the steps they had taken to try to move into the middle class, but were also worried about their futures, because in some cases their kids weren't doing as well as they had. In some cases, these communities had been badly neglected for a very long time.
The distribution of city services were unequal. Schools were underfunded. There was a lack of opportunity. And for three years, I tried to do something about it.
And I am the first to acknowledge that I did not set the world on fire. Nor did I transform these communities in any significant way, although we did some good things. But it did change me. This community gave me a lot more than I was able to give in return, because this community taught me that ordinary people — when working together — can do extraordinary things.
This community taught me that everybody has a story to tell that is important. This experience taught me that beneath the surface differences of people that there were common hopes, and common dreams, and common aspirations, common values that stitched us together as Americans.
And so even though I, after three years, left for law school, the lessons that had been taught to me here, as an organizer, are ones that stayed with me, and effectively gave me the foundation for my subsequent political career — and the themes that I would talk about as a state legislator, and as a US senator, and ultimately as president of the United States.
And what I'm convinced of is that although there are all kinds of issues that I care about, and all kinds of issues that I intend to work on, the single most important thing I can do is to help in any way I can to prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton, and to take their own crack at changing the world.
Because the one thing that I'm absolutely convinced of is that, yes, we confront a whole range of challenges — from economic inequality and lack of opportunity to a criminal justice system that too often is skewed in ways that are unproductive to climate change to issues related to violence — all those problems are serious, they're daunting, but they're not insoluble.
What is preventing us from tackling them and making more progress really has to do with our politics and our civic life. It has to do with the fact that because of things like political gerrymandering, our parties have moved further and further apart, and it's harder and harder to find common ground. Because of money and politics, special interests dominate the debates in Washington in ways that don't match up with what the broad majority of Americans feel.
Because of changes in the media, we now have a situation in which everybody's listening to people who already agree with them, and are further and further reinforcing their own realities to the neglect of a common reality that allows us to have a healthy debate — and then try to find common ground, and actually move solutions forward.
When I said in that there were no red states or blue states, they were the United States of America — that was an aspirational comment. But obviously, it's not true when it comes to our politics and civic life. Maybe more pernicious is [that] people are not involved. And they give up. Obama's catchphrase of the night was telling young activists to "stay angry".
I want you to stay frustrated," he said. Harness that frustration. Keep pushing harder and harder for more and more. Because that's what's required to meet that challenge. Gird yourself for a marathon, not a sprint. He honoured the dedication of activists such as Greta Thunberg who are "forming movements across borders", and urged young people to at least get out and vote for politicians who will stand against climate change.
The former president insisted that despite political divisions in the US and the country's absence from global climate efforts for four years during the Trump administration, America was now back on track and committed to change.
Mr Obama made a number of comments about his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, who once called climate change "an expensive hoax" and controversially pulled out of the Paris climate accord when he took office. The US rejoined it under Joe Biden. Mr Obama reserved some of his strongest criticism for the Republican Party.
He accused its members of stalling progress by "sitting on the sidelines" and making climate change a partisan issue with "four years of active hostility toward climate science". He said Republicans who take climate change seriously are "a rare breed right now. Mr Obama also blamed the pandemic, rise of US nationalism and a lack of cooperation from the Trump administration for a breakdown in international relations that has affected the climate crisis.
Taking a swipe at Russia and China, Mr Obama also said it was "particularly discouraging" that the leaders of "two of the world's largest emitters" had not attended the climate summit in person. While more than leaders turned up at the conference, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, who have both avoided international travel since the start of the pandemic, opted to take part remotely instead.
Mr Obama said they were showing a "dangerous lack of urgency". The 44th US president closed by telling the crowd that fighting climate change will be hard and messy with "every victory incomplete". Barack Obama's speech to COP26 was a study in hope and doubt. He touted the work his administration and that of Joe Biden have accomplished in addressing climate change, while acknowledging he wasn't "real happy" about what the Trump administration had done in the intervening four years.
He lamented the fierce opposition Republicans have mounted toward addressing climate change in the US and the rise of tribalism and nationalism around the world, but pointed to efforts by states, local governments and private citizens to fill the policy void. However, Obama lost support among both white men and women. In four of the key battleground states, Obama may not have won without the youth vote. In , Obama won half or more of the vote among those 30 and older in all four states.
Thus, he probably would have been able to carry the vote, even with less support from young voters. The racial and ethnic composition of young voters has shifted dramatically over the last four presidential elections. This stands in sharp contrast to older voters.
Younger voters also are less likely to be religious than older voters. Young voters were not only more likely to back Obama, but they are far more likely than older voters to identify as Democrats than their older counterparts. By comparison, Democrats had just a three-percentage point advantage in party identification among voters 30 and older. Consistent with their strong vote for Obama and their Democratic Party affiliation, young voters also have more liberal views on a variety of issues.
And they are far more likely than older voters to support allowing gay marriage. In times of uncertainty, good decisions demand good data. Please support our research with a financial contribution.
It organizes the public into nine distinct groups, based on an analysis of their attitudes and values. Even in a polarized era, the survey reveals deep divisions in both partisan coalitions.
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