Barack Obama's farewell: Sen. no more

by Mark Silva

After less than four years of serving as the junior senator from Illinois, President-elect Barack Obama is a senator no more.

With his resignation from the Senate today, the Illinoisan soon to be sworn in as the 44tth president of the United States bid farewell to one constituency today - the people of Illinois - with a letter published in newspapers around his state, as he prepares to go to work for a far broader constituency in January.

""Today, I am ending one journey to begin another," Obama wrote in his letter published today. ""After serving the people of Illinois in the United States Senate -- one of the highest honors and privileges of my life -- I am stepping down as senator to prepare for the responsibilities I will assume as our nation's next president."

The Hawaiian-born and Harvard-bred attorney and father of two (pictured here Saturday in Chicago after a workout in a photo by the AP's Pablo Martinez Monsivais) recalls moving to the state two decades ago "as a young man eager to do my part in building a better America:

"On the South Side of Chicago, I worked with families who had lost jobs and lost hope when the local steel plant closed. It wasn't easy, but we slowly rebuilt those neighborhoods one block at a time, and in the process I received the best education I ever had.''

His political career started in 1995 with a successful bid for the state Senate:

"It was in Springfield, in the heartland of America, where I saw all that is America converge -- farmers and teachers, businessmen and laborers, all of them with a story to tell, all of them seeking a seat at the table, all of them clamoring to be heard. It was there that I learned to disagree without being disagreeable; to seek compromise while holding fast to those principles that can never be compromised, and to always assume the best in people instead of the worst.''

.Next came a statewide campaign for the U.S. Senate four years ago:

"I still remember the young woman in East St. Louis who had the grades, the drive and the will but not the money to go to college. I remember the young men and women I met at VFW halls across the state who serve our nation bravely in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I will never forget the workers in Galesburg who faced the closing of a plant they had given their lives to, who wondered how they would provide health care to their sick children with no job and little savings.''

He will carry these memories to the White House:

"The challenges we face as a nation are now more numerous and difficult than when I first arrived in Chicago, but I have no doubt that we can meet them. For throughout my years in Illinois, I have heard hope as often as I have heard heartache. Where I have seen struggle, I have seen great strength. And in a state as broad and diverse in background and belief as any in our nation, I have found a spirit of unity and purpose that can steer us through the most troubled waters.''

He quotes "another son of Illinois" who left for Washington.
"To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything'' - Abraham Lincoln's words. "Today, I feel the same, and like Lincoln, I ask for your support, your prayers, and for us to 'confidently hope that all will yet be well.''

He closes:

"With your help, along with the service and sacrifice of Americans across the nation who are hungry for change and ready to bring it about, I have faith that all will in fact be well. And it is with that faith, and the high hopes I have for the enduring power of the American idea, that I offer the people of my beloved home a very affectionate thanks."