Letter to the Nation on Cabinet Member Exit Memorandums

This memorandum is a letter from President Obama to the American people summarizing his administration's accomplishments as he prepared to leave office in January 2017. The document directed Cabinet members to prepare exit memorandums documenting the work of their agencies over the previous eight years.

The letter describes the situation when Obama took office in 2009—including an economic recession, high unemployment, struggles in the auto industry, and ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—and contrasts it with conditions in 2017. According to the letter, the economy had shifted from shrinking to growing, unemployment had decreased substantially, and the auto industry had recovered. The letter also highlights the Affordable Care Act's expansion of health insurance coverage to 20 million additional adults and protections for people with preexisting conditions.

The memorandum matters because it represents an outgoing president's official accounting of his administration's work to the American people. While such letters are routine as administrations change hands, they serve as a public record of what a president considered his most significant achievements and provide context for the transition to a new administration.

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