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Obama borrowed a line from the 2006 Martin Scorsese movie The Departed when Mark Wahlberg is berating a fellow officer for messing up by saying, “I’m the guy who does his job. You must be the other guy.”

“Don’t be the other guy,” said Obama, who steered the United States through the economic meltdown of 2008-09 to lead the longest stretch of job creation in America’s history, while overhauling the U.S. health-care system with the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare.

As for the future, Obama is full of optimism due to what he sees in young people.

“Younger people are trying to get away from the baggage that we older people heaped on them,” said Obama. “And that makes me feel optimistic.”

One subject he did not address at least directly is the current occupant of the White House Donald Trump, who has targeted many of his policies since taking office. The closest he got was when Burns was discussing his birth in Honolulu and Obama joked, “Allegedly.”

Photo by Dwayne Larsen / Tinepublic Inc.

In Winnipeg, Obama found a very receptive audience.

“I think President Obama is an inspiration even after his presidency for the entire world,” said Melissa Schlichting, prior to Obama’s address.

“It’s nice to have that perspective. Even though he’s not the current president, he is very influential and it’s very meaningful to hear his words.”

“He’s just a very unique man and a great speaker so we just figured we’d like to come and hear what he’s got to say,” said Allan Yascheshyn who came with his 28-year-old daughter Katie.