With the long presidential campaign behind him, U.S. President Barack Obama wiped tears from his eyes as he thanked campaign workers, in a video of the private address released Friday.
In the rare show of emotion, Obama wept as he addressed several hundred young volunteer campaign workers at his Chicago campaign headquarters. The video was taken on Wednesday afternoon, the day after his victory, and posted Friday on the Obama campaign's official YouTube channel.
"Even before last night's results, I felt that the work I have done in running for office had come full circle, because what you
guys have done means the work that I have done is important," Obama
told the young volunteers, his voice quavering. "And I'm really proud
of that, and I'm really proud of all of you."
In the five-minute video, Obama recalls his work as a community
organizer in Chicago.
Tim Hagemann, a stress researcher in Bielefeld, said Obama most
certainly felt a release of the tension that had built up over the
previous weeks.
"This is revealed simply in such deeply felt relief," Hagemann
told dpa.
Letting tears flow freely also has a liberating effect, he said.
Doctors would recommend Obama take two weeks off and put his legs up,
"but I don't believe he will do that," Hagemann said.
On Friday, Obama delivered remarks calling for the divided
Congress to get "back to work" to address the so-called fiscal cliff,
a batch of severe austerity measures taking effect in January that
threaten to throw the US economy into recession unless altered before
the end of the year.
Watch the video below:
