Constable: Obama's grace more than skin deep

In a nation still struggling with a racial history birthed from slavery, Barack Obama will be immortalized as America's first black president. But the most impressive thing about Obama's skin is not its color, but its thickness.

We'll get one last chance to witness that during his final speech tonight in Chicago.

No president has needed thicker skin than President Obama. Republicans, conservatives and even liberals and Democrats can find flaws and shortcomings in Obama's policies during his eight years as our nation's 44th president. It's easy to pick apart Obamacare, immigration and foreign policy, just as it's easy to forget that Obama started his presidency burdened by the weight of an economy on the brink of collapse, two wars and predictions of massive terror attacks coming to America.

But no matter how you feel about the president, Obama never let those feelings get under his skin.

“Obama is a special combination of youth, smarts, charisma and political action,” I wrote in a March 2, 2004, column touting Obama as the best candidate in a crowded Democratic primary race to replace outgoing U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald. “Given a chance on the national scene, he'll soon be on a short list to become our nation's first African-American president.”

Obama reminded lots of his early supporters of another skinny, young president from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, who showed similar resolve, self-restraint and grace during the most divisive period in United States history. Lincoln, an outsider to the political establishment, endured insults and mocking comments. Critics even compared his wife, Mary Todd, to a cow.

Obama launched his presidential campaign on a frigid Feb. 10, 2007, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together.

“It's humbling, but in my heart I know you didn't come here just for me,” said Obama, who started his career in the 1980s as a community organizer paid $13,000 a year by a group of Christian churches. “You came here because you believe in what this country can be.”

After a grueling 2008 primary race to defeat favorite Hillary Clinton, and then trouncing war hero John McCain and Sarah Palin, Obama barely had time for an acceptance speech in Chicago's Grant Park before he faced immediate and unfair attacks.

“He doesn't have a birth certificate, or if he does, there's something on that certificate that is very bad for him,” one high-profile host of a celebrity TV show said in questioning Obama's right to be president, insinuating that Obama was a Muslim born in Kenya.

It wasn't just celebrity barbs that Obama faced.

Accusations that his health care plan would let “death panels” decide if elderly people should die were “made not just by radio and talk-show hosts, but by prominent politicians,” Obama said during a 2009 address to a joint session of Congress. That's the speech interrupted by South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson shouting “You lie!” at the president of the United States.

Obama didn't throw a hissy fit after that unprecedented and unpresidented breach of Congressional decorum. He didn't call Wilson an overrated politician or a flunky. Sometimes criticized as being smug, Obama didn't spend his two terms feeding his ego by touting his successes or taunting his predecessor. The POTUS twitter account has no, “I am thrilled to accept your praise for killing Osama bin Laden. W promised but failed bigly. Sad,” tweet.

Obama, his wife, Michelle, and daughters, Malia and Sasha, faced a world of social media where people felt free to call them slurs, lie about their personal lives, and compare them to apes and other animals. Subjected to eight years of such ugliness, Obama probably could draw cheers from some supporters if he wallowed in that same disgusting swamp and transformed into a crass showman boldly giving voice to what the worst of us might think. That's not what our president does.

Once again Obama's speech will give life to the hope that all of us can change the system to reflect our better selves.

Obama's farewellat 7 p.m. today

What: President Obama's farewell speech

Where: McCormick Place in Chicago

When: 8 p.m. CST

Tickets: Free, but no more tickets available

How to watch: Network TV or stream it live at whitehouse.gov/farewell