The Atlantic

Obama Frames His Economic Legacy

In his farewell address, the outgoing president touted his success and offered warnings for the future.
Source: John Gress / Reuters

In Barack Obama’s as president, he touted nearly a decade of economic improvement. “If I had told you eight years ago that America would reverse a great recession, reboot our auto industry, and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our history… you might have said our sights were set a little too high,” he said to great applause. But despite his cheery retrospective, the outgoing president also had words of warning, particularly about the important link between the country’s political

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