Obama pays tribute to the first lady: 'You made the White House a place that belongs to everybody'

Vice President Joe Biden, Jill Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama, Malia Obama.
(Image credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

President Obama saved the best for last in his farewell address Tuesday night in Chicago.

Speaking directly to his "best friend," first lady Michelle Obama, an emotional Obama said his wife took on a role she didn't ask for, making it her own. "With grace and with grit and with style and with humor, you made the White House a place that belongs to everybody, and a new generation sets its sights higher because it has you as a role model. You have made me proud and you have made the country proud." To his daughters, Malia and Sasha, Obama gushed that they have become two "amazing young women," having grown up under "the strangest of circumstance." They are "smart and beautiful," the president said, but more importantly, "kind and thoughtful and full of passion." They both "wore the burden of years in the spotlight so easily," he added. "Of all that I have done in my life, I am most proud to be your dad."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.