The end of Barack Obama’s reign as president of the United States appeared to hit the Big Three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) pretty hard. All three of them took the time bid the president an emotional farewell at the end of their Wednesday night programs. “While President Obama was busy changing the White House … the White House was also changing him,” remarked anchor Lester Holt on NBC Nightly News.
The report by NBC’s Harry Smith was nothing but gush. “We've grown accustom to this face, and my how it's changed,” he fawned, “Since a speech in 2004 Barack Obama has occupied the focus of many a camera.” He seemed almost euphoric has his listed off everything Obama has been to America:
We, though, view him through the lens of our own expectations, our dreams, our biases. Imagine how any of us would have fared under the circumstances. You are president of the United States, commander in chief, leader of the free world but also comforter in chief, scold and cheerleader, father, husband, wearer of weird shirts and Turkey pardoner. We've seen him pensive and watched him preach. We have even heard him sing.
“But the job does something to you. There is a weight, there's a responsibility that can't be measured,” Smith said as he showed pictures of how Obama and other presidents have aged, “Their faces are like an odometer of human experience. Over the years, you see them rack up the miles.” “There may be victories and triumphs but no one leaves without detractors and disappointments,” he continued, “So to survive, you grow a thick skin and as thick as it may be, we can still see right through it.”
On CBS Evening News, anchor Scott Pelley using the president’s own words to reassure viewers that things would be alright under a President Donald Trump. “Well, today, with eight years of experience, he said if we're true to the things that feel right, the world gets a little bit better, and that's what this presidency has been about,” Pelley stated, “Presidents always come to Washington to change history, but history always changes them.”
Pelley also touted, “In our poll, 62 percent of Americans are telling President Obama ‘Well done.’”
The superficial ABC was fixated on the final wave Obama would give as he left the White House. “As much as it is an exit, it is a rite of passage. The outgoing president, one last wave goodbye,” hyped Linsey Davis on World News Tonight.
“In 2009, President Obama waved from the ground,” Davis reminisced, “Three days from now, he'll be on that chopper, no longer called Marine One, which is reserved for the current president.” She highlighted a video shared of the first lady “taking it in” one last time as she walked through the White House. “Trading the White House in for this rented house. Their golf clubs and flat screen TV already moved in,” the ABC reporter joked.
Eight years ago, the networks seemed to be too enthralled with Obama’s inauguration to give George W. Bush a solemn farewell. With how they’re treating the incoming president it’s doubtful that will share this level of sadness.