When President Barack Obama took the stage in Chicago for his final speech on Wednesday, the room was filled with emotion [1], but one moving tribute to him is really making us well up. Famed journalist Dan Rather took to Facebook to praise the president [2] following his farewell speech for everything he's accomplished and for his incredible grace. Rather reminds us that Obama is unlike any president our country has ever seen, and likely unlike any president we will see in the future.

"Tonight we saw a man of dignity, chastened by the reality of Washington and speaking in the shadows of a presidential election that leaves his legacy deeply threatened and seems to still be spiraling into uncharted territory," Rather wrote. "This was not the young Senator who bounded upon the world stage with unbridled optimism in a belief we could easily overcome all that divides us. This was a man humbled by experience, but still summoning a deep faith in the basic strength of our democratic traditions. He spoke of the accomplishments of which he was most proud, but he then shifted into a remarkable stretch where he highlighted all the challenges ahead. He almost sounded like a candidate for office, undoubtedly frustrated by the forces he felt were arrayed against him."

Rather explains that somehow at the end of Obama's presidency, he expressed the same feelings of hope that he did when he entered the Oval Office . . . and he expresses his own hope that POTUS will continue to shape our nation, even after he steps down from office.

"It is tempting to see a Farewell Address as, well, a farewell. But I got the sense watching President Obama tonight that this will not be the last we will see of him commanding a public stage. His youth, the state of the nation and the world, his unique background and qualifications will likely make him a presence in our national discourse for a long time to come."

Rather also reflected on the remarkable accomplishments Obama made while in office.

"It is striking to see this man, who rode into the White House under the banner of Hope, age under the burdens of the office in the years since," he continued. "As we mark this moment, where we confront a seeming crisis of conscience in our democratic experiment, it's important to remember the dire storm clouds of global financial doom that greeted President Obama eight years ago. How will history judge this man and his tenure is a question none of us can fully answer. It depends not only what has happened but on what has yet to occur. And I suspect President Obama will have a hand, a strong hand, in shaping this destiny."

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