The beauty of a presidential farewell speech is that it allows the president to give a reflection upon their years in office and warnings about how to handle the future. In President Obama's farewell address, he goes into detail about his administration's accomplishments, and the issues that plagues today's Americans before giving advice about how to avoid further problems. However, Obama isn't the first president to notice our current issues. Here we refer to presidential farewell addresses from Washington to Obama to comment on America's present issues.

Climate Change and the Environment

"...without bolder action, our children won't have time to debate the existence of climate change." - Barack Obama, 2017

"The rapid depletion of irreplaceable minerals, the erosion of topsoil, the destruction of beauty, the blight of pollution, the demands of increasing billions of people, all combine to create problems which are easy to observe and predict, but difficult to resolve." - Jimmy Carter, 1981

Economy

"Our economy doesn't work as well or grow as fast when a few prosper at the expense of a growing middle class and ladders for folks who want to get into the middle class." - Barack Obama, 2017

"Common sense told us that when you put a big tax on something, the people will produce less of it." - Ronald Reagan, 1989

Technology

"...the next wave of economic dislocations won't come from overseas. It will come from the relentless pace of automation that makes a lot of good, middle-class jobs obsolete." - Barack Obama, 2017

"...we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite." - Dwight Eisenhower, 1961

Fake News and the Media

"...we become so secure in our bubbles that we start accepting only information, whether it's true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that is out there. [....] ...without some common baseline of facts, without a willingness to admit new information, and concede that your opponent might be making a fair point, and that science and reason matter — then we're going to keep talking past each other, and we'll make common ground and compromise impossible." - Barack Obama, 2017

"...we've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion but what's important." - Ronald Reagan, 1989

"Thoughtful criticism and close scrutiny of all government officials by the press and the public are an important part of our democratic society. [....] ...we are increasingly drawn to single-issue groups and special interest organizations to ensure that whatever else happens, our own personal views and our own private interests are protected." - Jimmy Carter, 1981

"Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad. [...] Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration." - Dwight Eisenhower, 1961

Inequality/Discrimination/Fear

"If we're unwilling to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don't look like us, we will diminish the prospects of our own children…" - Barack Obama, 2017

"If we are to serve as a beacon for human rights, we must continue to perfect here at home the rights and the values which we espouse around the world: a decent education for our children, adequate medical care for all Americans, an end to discrimination against minorities and women, a job for all those able to work, and freedom from injustice and religious intolerance." - Jimmy Carter, 1981

"...America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. [....] The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength." - Dwight Eisenhower, 1961

"Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct. [....] The nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest." - George Washington, 1796

Political Participation

"All of this depends on our participation; on each of us accepting the responsibility of citizenship, regardless of which way the pendulum of power happens to be swinging. [....] If you're tired of arguing with strangers on the Internet, try talking with one of them in real life. If something needs fixing, then lace up your shoes and do some organizing. If you're disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself." - Barack Obama, 2017

"Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together." - Dwight Eisenhower, 1961

"The President is President of the whole country. We must give him our support as citizens of the United States." - Harry Truman, 1953

"There is too much at stake to allow pride or passion to influence your decision." - Andrew Jackson, 1837

Defense

"...the United States and all countries must find ways to control and to reduce the horrifying danger that is posed by the enormous world stockpiles of nuclear arms." - Jimmy Carter, 1981

"Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. [....] ...we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. [....] Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. - Dwight Eisenhower, 1961

"We are a moral people. Peace is our goal, with justice and freedom. We cannot, of our own free will, violate the very principles that we are striving to defend." - Harry Truman, 1953

Party Politics and a Polarized Society

"We behold systematic efforts publicly made to sow the seeds of discord between different parts of the United States and to place party divisions directly upon geographical distinctions… [....] If the Union is once severed, the line of separation will grow wider and wider, and the controversies which are now debated and settled in the halls of legislation will then be tried in fields of battle and determined by the sword." - Andrew Jackson, 1837

"In contemplating the causes which may disturb our union it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties [...] whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. [....] The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism." - George Washington, 1796