President Obama's Farewell Speech: What to Know Before Watching His Historic Address

CHICAGO, IL — In November of 2008, then-President-elect Barack Obama gave his election victory speech from Grant Park in Chicago, an address he used to reinforce his campaign message of change with a repeated phrase that invoked a classic Sam Cooke song: "Change has come to America."

It was an inspiring moment for many Americans — whether it was the nearly 250,000 who attended the event in person or the millions who watched on TV and online — who felt the election of the country's first black president was indeed a sign of change for a 21st century United States that was struggling with a financial crisis at home and unrest in the Middle East and elsewhere abroad.

Two presidential terms and a little more than eight years later, Obama will say goodbye as America's chief executive from the same city he greeted the world in that newly elected role. The president — Obama officially leaves office at noon Jan. 20 — will give his farewell address at 8 p.m. (Central time) Tuesday, Jan. 10, at McCormick Place in Chicago.

WATCH: Live Stream of President Obama's Farewell Speech

But the symmetry doesn't end with the location of this event. As in 2008, America in 2017 looks poised to change again as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to begin his time in office, promising not only to undo much of Obama's legacy, such as repeal the Affordable Care Act, but also redefine many of his administration's policies, including immigration, as part of his campaign promise to "make America great again."

Obama has no plans to go gently into that good night of presidential retirement, though. An Obama loyalist told CNN that Tuesday's speech will feature "admonitions about the challenges [America] faces moving forward" that will have their sights lined up on Trump. The president also will give a final defense of his administration's changes to the health care system, the report said.

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Possibly echoing 2008, Obama is expected to ask for Americans to continue to celebrate diversity in the United States and, as the loyalist put it to CNN, "strengthen and embrace our democracy."

Given how much Tuesday's historic farewell address could be seen as a reflection of Obama's 2008 speech, perhaps the most important thing he could pull from that time is a line and a message that invoked President Abraham Lincoln and the healing America needed after the Civil War:

"As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection."

President Barack Obama's Farewell Address

• When: 8 p.m. (Central Time) Tuesday, Jan. 10
• Where: McCormick Place, Chicago
• TV: The speech will be carried on the five major networks — ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and PBS — as well as CNN, CSPAN, Fox News and MSNBC.
• Online: The speech will be live-streamed on Patch, as well as the website and the Facebook page for the White House.

WATCH Obama's presidential election victory speech from Chicago in 2008.

Then President-elect Barack Obama delivers his election victory speech Nov. 4, 2008, in Grant Park in Chicago. (photo by Gabbec | Wikimedia Commons)

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