Photo: 'Thank Obama,' Says Facade Of Loop High Rise

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jan 11, 2017 12:32AM

CNA Building lights say "Thank Obama." Photo: Rachel Cromidas

With President Barack Obama back in Chicago this evening to give a landmark farewell address, we can't help getting a little weepy. But the CNA Building in the Loop just took our nostalgia to another level Tuesday evening, when we noticed that its interior lights are lit up to say "Thank Obama" into night. We caught a camera phone photo of it, above, near the lakefront path.

The phrase "Thanks Obama" has become a shorthand for some of the most dramatic policy implementations of Obama's eight years in office, and the sometimes sarcastic, sometimes genuine lack of appreciation for them on behalf of the American people. The meme-ification of the phrase came full-circle in 2015 when Obama appeared in a memorable Buzzfeed video and defeatedly muttered "Thanks, Obama," after failing to dunk a cookie in a glass of milk.

But the CNA Building doesn't quite say "Thanks Obama." It may have been a function of space constraints, but we'd like to believe the choice was deliberate—to remind us that we have a lot to be grateful for from the Obama administration, even though presidential administrations are far from perfect.