HR0641 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0641 LRB100 14830 MST 29889 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, President Barack H. Obama served as the 44th President of the United States of America from January 20, 2009 to January 20, 2017; he was the first African American elected to the American Presidency, and the first president born out of the continental United States; and

WHEREAS, President Obama represented the 13th Senate District in the Illinois State Senate in Springfield from 1997 to 2004; and

WHEREAS, President Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States on February 10, 2007 on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, the location where in 1858 President Abraham Lincoln delivered his "House Divided" speech; and

WHEREAS, President Obama addressed a joint session of the Illinois General Assembly on February 10, 2016 in a speech in which he called upon all Americans to never stop striving to make the United States a more perfect union; and

WHEREAS, President Obama believed that working families are the core of what makes America special and showed a deep understanding of the challenges that they faced; his policies always reflected that belief; and

WHEREAS, The presidency of Barack Obama was historic, from his remarkable victory to his final days in office, and he brought great pride to Illinois, especially Springfield, where it all began; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize President Barack Obama launching his historic 2008 presidential campaign with a speech at the Old State Capitol and his momentous speech before the Illinois General Assembly during his final year in office in 2016.