'We're Still One People': Obama Reflects on 'Divisive' Election in Thanksgiving Message

US President Barack Obama delivered his final Thanksgiving message in office on November 24, telling the country that after a “noisy, passionate, and sometimes divisive campaign season” the holiday is a reminder that Americans are “still one people.”

He said President Abraham Lincoln began the holiday in the midst of civil war, “when the fate of the union hung in the balance,” giving the country a “new birth of freedom.”

“We honor all people, from the first Americans to our newest arrivals, who continue to shape our nation’s story, enrich our heritage, and give meaning to our founding values – values we must never take for granted, that in America, we are bound not by any one race or religion, but rather an adherence to a common belief, that all of us are created equal; that we may think, and worship, and speak and love as we please,” he said. “Never doubt – that is what makes us American. Not what we look like or where we come from or what faith we practice, but the ideals to which our allegiance.” Credit: YouTube/The White House via Storyful