hould be protected president barack obama's record clear. al for his entire political life, he's strongly supported the full legalization of abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy, for any , including o reason sex selection throughout all pregnancy and forcing american taxpayers to pay for t, whether the taxpayers liked it or not. under barack obama, nearly nine million innocent, defenseless little american babies were ever saw thee they first smile of their mother. president obama was in the unique position perhaps among all other presidents in this country ng together to protect these helpless little children. most powerful human being in the world, mr. obama most o become the powerful enemy of the most in the human beings world. and nothing will stain his legacy or his claims of looking the little guy with more shame than going down in history the abortion president. mr. speaker, it gives me no out this record. i truly and sincerely hoped for god's best for barack obama when office. thatte him a letter hoping he would be remembe

that's not the approach of barack obama. i generally think barack obama will be seen as a good and great president from the perspective of history, not only that he b bush, a country of deep recession where unemployment was growing with people losing the helms at a very quick pace, and today, america is in growth again. we have a very low unemploloymet rate. of course, this is not true for every region in the united states, so i i understand if the , butotest and opposition apart from that, the health care reform, the reform of the financial system. he nominated two female supreme court justices, the first latina. he changed how the country thinks about homosexual love, gays, lesbians, and so on. he had a huge missile contract with russia to delete 1/3 of strategic missiles that i could go on and on. peter: there is a darker side to all this, though. you said at the beginning of the show, or at least i quoted you as saying that trump is obama's legacy. explain. all, if youfirst of say you are delivering change we can believe

we know that part of why they ofted barack obama -- part why barack obama decided to run, y his wifef wha supported him, they wanted america to see an intact black family to counter all of the negative stereotypes. i think that also put them under a tremendous amount of personal pressure. being a role model under that kind of glare when everybody is waiting for you to do something wrong, it's really hard. part of what my book is about is how they coped with that in private. even the obama's are really the history of presidential children for not having the misstep on the stage. those kids have been in the spotlight for a really long time , and the fact that we haven't seen an embarrassing moment or slipup from them -- for anyone that has kids, kids behave in unpredictable ways, and the --the obama girls have really done that. steve: thank you very much for being with us. we appreciate it. ms. kantor: thank you for having me at. coming up, the book is called "the great equalizer." we are going to talk about what we can expect from the start of the trump presidency c. first, we sit down

barack obama. >> ladies and gentlemen, the 44th president of the united states, barack obama. [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] neil: all right. barack obama addressing many in this crowd, by the way, we're told are some of the same ones who were with him about eight years ago, some ten years ago when he first announced he was interested in running for the presidency of the united states. of course, his wife and daughters are there, the vice president, joe biden, his wife there. they chose this venue because he wanted to get outside of washington and make a statement about the small town guy who made it big even though chicago's hardly a small town. in the case of barack obama, it launched a career that changed american history. many critics will say they don't like the kind of changes, but he was a consequential figure and will go down as such. we'll watch barack obama. [cheers and applause] >> it's good to be home! [cheers and applause] thank you, everybody. [cheers and applause] thank you! thank you. [cheers and applause] thank you! thank you so much. than

but barack obama was no peacenik. he had a dramatically different approach to war compared with his predecessor. instead of fighting terrorism with large armies, he would rely on a different technology. it would change the very nature of war. the armed drone. >> never before in american history has an american president had the technology and the legal authority to hunt down any person anywhere on the face of the earth and kill them. >> there was a surreal selection process that became known as the kill list. >> they would have bios and pictures of these people. some came to be called sort of baseball cards of terrorists. and a decision was made to put them on the list or not put them on the list. >> carrying out the campaign of killing was the president's cia director leon panetta. obama gave him plenty of latitude. when panetta wanted to dramatically expand the cia's fleet of drones in pakistan, the president, over the objections of his staff, told panetta the cia gets what it wants. >> it was a u.s. drone that fire

obama for the time barack obama became president, we heard on the radio, rush limbaugh say i want to see them fail. >> host: but he said he wanted a spouse is failed. >> guest: afterwards. he went back at all. i've got the tape of that. on this wonderful platform of c-span, and we have heard people taken off the air for using the. i am not saying everyone who does not like president obama's polished these were about the affordable care act where policing, not necessarily about that. there is a strong undercurrent in this country and we've seen it before or hate against someone because he is different is very pervasive. i believe race and politics and i believe it's the fact black man is president of the united states. >> host: at eight years ago, barack obama sworn in as the 44th president. here's a portion of his inaugural address. the focus on her website, c-span.org. >> today a cd of the challenges we face are real. they are serious and they are many. they will not be met easily find a short span of time. but know this, america, they will be met. [cheers and applause] on this day,

barack obama doesn't seem to know how to do that. he in fact in private is a very introverted person who doesn't reach out via on a group of chicago operatives whom he's brought with him to the white house. >> when i got the idea for the brief against obama, and said hey, what's the worst thing president obama has done? for what up of course. i just made a list. people call up and say he's no friend of israel. he left that yahoo! in the base at. or it didn't help the iranian revolution. that came up a lot. unemployment is at such and such a rate as such and such a time. i just made up on this and i had a list of more than 50 suggestions. i whittled it down to 24 the 25th cap your is a summary chapter. let me repeat the table of contents. i'm not going to go through each of these because after all you need to buy the book. the nightmare of obamacare. a failed stimulus. stimulus to point out. the biggest spendthrift in history. that is true by the way. the committee organizer who collapsed housing. selling the roles of the unemployed,

first, barack obama, never had a chance. he probably could have been one of the best presidents in the united states of america forever. because of the hard-core onset power that the republicans played against him he never really had a chance. the one thing about barack obama is he was humble, he was kind, he was charming, he was accepting, he was gracious, he was fit and caring and all of those things are reflective of a man of grace and of great concern for the world. one of the things that is so imperative and i don't think this country is aware of, our nation is aware of, we are now a global world because of the ability of the internet and instan tainuous news around the world and when our president in our country is elected, basically the status quo, they say, he is the world leader. now we have a world president-elect coming onboard who lacks in grace and charm and any sort of humbleness at all. host: elizabeth, we'll leave it there and let our guest respond. guest: well, barack obama was the jackie robinson of u.s. pr

>> by now, her husband barack obama was senator barack obama, and he had his sights set on the white house. >> michelle gave up a big career, but there is nothing to compete with this historic opportunity for those who sense that they can be a part of of history. >> she is the love of my life, the rock of our household. >> when you strip away princeton and harvard and all those wonderful degrees and accomplishments, deep down, i'm just a girl who grew up in the south side of chicago. >> candid and confident, qualities instilled in her by her parents went a long way have -- with voters on the campaign trail. >> because every time in my life, when i tried to do something, there were people around telling me why i couldn't. >> and mrs. obama was a bridge to african american women, in ways like no one else who came before her. >> my question to you all is, can we do this? >> even early in her husband's political career, her style earned her the nickname, "the closer." >> can we do this? [ crowd chants yes we can ] >> she's a closer. she's going to stand up there and get right down to the

barack obama said he has become a fictional character. here is a quote from his interview, i believe with "rolling stone" in 2008. he says i was never subjected to the villification of fox news and the media ecosystem. he blames that on bringing down his approval ratings. >> he won'tlet it go. bottom line, he should have come on fox news and reached across the aisle more. he passed through without any republican help. he didn't want it, he never got it. howie: he seems to leave out other parts of the equation. >> the mainstream media has backed president obama and will have been outspoke others who have definitely been on the attack. there is no question about that. he's right. there have been talk shows and conservatives who have gone after him. but he's the president. you can expect he's also a super liberal president. when you have a president acting in a liberal way you will have the press going after him. >> the obama administration often leaked everything they needed to the "new york times." so it's no surprise the "new york times"

but barack obama was no peacenik. he had a dramatically different approach to war compared with his predecessor. instead of fighting terrorism with large armies, he would rely on a different technology. it would change the very nature of war. the armed drone. >> never before in american history has an american president had the technology and the legal authority to hunt down any person anywhere on the face of the earth and kill them. >> there was a surreal selection process that became known as the kill list. >> they would have bios and pictures of these people. some came to be called sort of baseball cards of terrorists. and a decision was made to put them on the list or not put them on the list. >> carrying out the campaign of killing was the president's cia director leon panetta. obama gave him plenty of latitude. when panetta wanted to dramatically expand the cia's fleet of drones in pakistan, the president, over the objections of his staff, told panetta the cia gets what it wants. >> it was a u.s. drone that fire

that was barack obama, and to some degree, to barack obama, and michelle, since he has been in office, a thousand democrats, governors, state representatives have lost because his enormous popularity which we saw tonight, at one point somebody yelled out. i love you. it was like a justin bieber concert, i say that respectfully. it was respectful. i won't retract it. what i will say, the love was for a personality, not for a platform or policy. >> you can't argue the democratic party is in some level of confusion at this stage, you might even say disarray. >> yeah, so is the republican party, all of our parties, that has to do with where we are in our country right now, which is people rejecting labels and boxes, all of that. that is a global phenomenon. i think it's really important to take a step back and think about what the president said tonight. he talked about things that are a threat to our democracy. he put on not only his state of the union hat, his constitutional law professor hat, his founding fathers hat and said we have a threat with economic opportunity, an issue with ra

people let barack obama down. people let democracy down because of lack of civic engagement, lack of voting, lack of keeping themselves informed. maybe because i am a child of that second world war, my family always understood what happened and i have voted every time i was eligible to vote when i was eligible to vote when i was 21 years old and that was for eisenhower. my father was for him and my father was from that war but let's go to this business of what has happened now in our time. black folk not being engaged. they haven't been engaged because they haven't had the civic education and they don't -- it doesn't need to come from school, they need to understand who they are voting for. >> i want to give david maraniss a chance to respond. thank you for the call for michigan. >> appreciate your comments blues not clear what i said was wrong. she didn't say why. i don't know how to respond to something when i am not sure what the critique is. i will just appreciate her comment and leave it at that. >> give me t

barack obama did it in charleston and other places after the shootings. and that emotional connection which has to do with familiy an a larger commonality of the american experience is something that's very important for every president and it's not at all clear that donald trump has that capacity. >> i have to tell you i feel like i remember watching trump on election night, and i feel like i saw a little piece of it. would you agree? people were waiting to pounce, frankly, and then he -- people were waiting to pounce. >> there's very little in his life that shows it. i don't think you'll see that between he and his wife. she might not even come to washington. and his children, he gets praised for raising his children. we'll see how thatlaysut in terms of his businesses and their involvement in the presidency. there are just a lot of questions there and you can only hope for the best. >> two different men here. i should end with the book, an easy question for you maybe, maybe not, what's your biggest takeaway? you mentioned the fact his try will look bac

barack obama doesn't seem to know how to do that. he in fact in private is a very introverted person who doesn't reach out via on a group of chicago operatives whom he's brought with him to the white house. >> when i got the idea for the brief against obama, and said hey, what's the worst thing president obama has done? for what up of course. i just made a list. people call up and say he's no friend of israel. he left that yahoo! in the base at. or it didn't help the iranian revolution. that came up a lot. unemployment is at such and such a rate as such and such a time. i just made up on this and i had a list of more than 50 suggestions. i whittled it down to 24 the 25th cap your is a summary chapter. let me repeat the table of contents. i'm not going to go through each of these because after all you need to buy the book. the nightmare of obamacare. a failed stimulus. stimulus to point out. the biggest spendthrift in history. that is true by the way. the committee organizer who collapsed housing. selling the roles of the unemployed,

there is no question barack obama wanted to withdraw from iraq. if you read the stories from the new yorker and elsewhere on the record, it is clear he wanted to withdraw all troops from iraq. he had no interest in getting a status of forces agreement. the prime minister at that time new it. barack obama ran on a commitment to get us out of iraq. he did. the cost for having done that was extraordinary. he inherited a country that was relatively speaking in good shape. don't take my word for it. take the word of joe biden and barack obama who talking about how peaceful -- talked about how peaceful iraq was in 2010. when we withdrew those troops, iraq descended into chaos. eventually isis came in and took over parts of syria and iraq and established what was essentially a caliphate state that did not have to happen. i feel like it was ideology that drove president obama to do what he did. i do think he was driven largely by ideology. he fancied himself as trains olitical who transp came through with reasonable judgment. i don't think the record alig

but what has barack obama done for eight years. just months after russia have invaded georgia he have them push it. in the middle of his reelection campaign in 2012 he told the russian president he would have more flexibility after the election. when mitt romney characterized russia as our her number one adversary barack obama mocked &4ms8w:j9d wanted their foreign policy back. they have finally realized the threat that they pose to the united states and our interest. shannon: russian president has responded here is a bit what he have to say as perceived from international practice they had reasons to respond in kind although we have the right to retaliate well not response to that. what will plan our further steps . he went on to invite all diplomatic children who are in russia to the new year's and christmas parties at the kremlin. what is his response say to you? >> i would recommend that they not take their ipads to the kremlin. what they need is a sense of new boundaries. he's have a free reign over the last eight years he nee

i thought, what kind of name is barack obama? >> she was to mentor him at the law firm, but he was late on his first day and hardly made a good impression. still, when barack obama didn't see a ring on her finger, he asked her out. >> first of all, she thought it was inappropriate to have any inner office dating, even though i was only there for the summer. >> michelle robinson eventually agreed to go out with him. >> i said okay. we'll go out on a date, but we won't call it a date, wei'll spd the day with you. >> by that time, i thought i've got something going. >> by the end of that date, it was over. i was sold. >> but she still had another test barack obama needed to pass. >> my sister and i were talking about how you can tell a guy's true character when you take him out on the basketball court. so she asked me to take him to go play. had a fwauntlet for the guy to run through. >> so when the game was over, what did you report back to your sister? >> i told my sister, this guy's terrific. >> barack and michelle obama died in

. >> her husband barack obama was senator barack obama and had his sights set on the white house. >> michelle gave up a big career. there is nothing compete with this historic opportunity for those who sense that they can be a part of history. >> she is the love of my life. the rock of our household. >> when you strip away prince and h ton and harvard, deep down inside i am a girl who grew up on the southside of chicago. >> qualities instilled in her by her parents went a long way with voters. >> every time in my life when i tried to do something, there were people around telling me why i couldn't. >> mrs. obama was a bridge to african-american women in ways like no one else who came before her. >> my question to you all is can we do this? >> early in her husband's political career, her style nicknamed her the closer. >> can we do this? >> yes we can! >> she is the closer. she will stand up there and get right down to the tax of what's happening in the country and what we need to do and let's get on with it. >> her brother expected big things from her. just not this. >> astronaut may

barack obama ba rack obama has just barack obama has just finished his last press conference as president. there was plenty to discuss within it. we'll work through the main points with the help of katty kay. here is the president talking about russia. in my first term we negotiated the start two treaty which has substantially reduced our nuclear stockpiles, both russia and the united states. i was prepared to go further, i told president putin i was prepared to go further. they have been unwilling to negotiate. if president—elect trump is able to restart those talks in a serious way, there remains a lot of room for oui’ way, there remains a lot of room for our countries to reduce our stockpiles. part of the reason we've been successful on our nonproliferation agenda and nuclear security agenda is because we were leading by example. i hope that continues. let's bring in katty kay from washington. a few years ago there was lots of talk about resetting the relationship with russia. hasn't really worked out as planned, has it? no. relations are not good at the moment. obama administratio

>> by now, her husband barack obama was senator barack obama, and he had his sights set on the white house. >> michelle gave up a big career, but there is nothing to compete with this historic opportunity for those who sense that they can be a part of of history. >> she is the love of my life, the rock of our household. >> when you strip away princeton and harvard and all those wonderful degrees and accomplishments, deep down, i'm just a girl who grew up in the south side of chicago. >> candid and confident, qualities instilled in her by her parents went a long way with voters on the campaign trail. >> because every time in my life, when i tried to do something, there were people around telling me why i couldn't. >> and mrs. obama was a bridge to african-american women, in ways like no one else who came before her. >> my question to you all is, can we do this? >> even early in her husband's political career, her style earned her the nickname, "the closer." >> can we do this? [ crowd chants yes we can ] >> she's a closer. she's going to stand up there and get right down to the brass t

i feel lucky every day. >> what is the legacy of barack obama? he may be the most improbable president in american history. in 2003 he was a state senator from illinois. >> the intent of this bill -- >> an unknown african-american politician named barack hussein obama. he made a big bet he could be elected to the white house. five years later he was. >> deserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states. >> he entered on a wave of hope and promise. he leaves the office in a small club. by the end of his presidency, the country was consumed by a wave of protests so strong, it dashed the prospects of his predecessor hillary rodham clinton. and elected his polar opposite. a man who promised to erase the obama presidency. how did it happen. >> to understand that, we have to ask what is the legacy of barack obama. the late publisher of the washington post once said, the journalism is the first rough draft of history. that's what we've tried to put together here. love him or hate him, there's little doubt obama has been one of the most c

now hopefully, he does not finish second to barack obama because i do not think barack obama made too many promises other than some of these health care plan where he said you can keep the doctor and that type of thing. going against the grassroots and going against the american people, i do not think barack obama tried to hurt us -- well i guess he did on some of heardepa regulations, he the ones on there. but he did not lie about. you know, he did not say am not going to do that then turn around and do it. on president-elect trump to not touch medicare, medicaid, social security. i hope donald trump does exactly what he said he would do and the republicans who are finally in charge now, i think it does time we should americans and showed the world that we are ready to govern and we're going to do what is right for the american people, the middle class, and god bless america. host: please stay on the line for a minute. we sat down with kellyanne conway in new york and we will be airing the full interview later this week, and after the length and tone about the president-elect speech,

but no one has done with barack obama plans to do tonight. chicago, mccormick place, thousands crammed in to say good-bye to their hero. they greeted him in 2008 to hear him say i want to be president of the united states. now it is barack obama's chance to say good-bye and to put a final signature on his 8 years in office. we are told he's going to focus more on the future than dwell on the past. but he won't pass up an opportunity to say how far he we have come as a country. jeff flock in mccormick place on what we can expect from this estimated 30-minute address. >> erupting in applause as the bidens enter. this place is packed. if you said 20,000, everything from the journalists that covere >> reporter: the cabinet secretaries, elected officials. this place is just packed to the rafters with people who would suggest that these past eight years have been an unqualified success. a reduction in unemployment, fewer troops on foreign soil engaged in conflict, a higher graduation rate among high schoolers. they see this as a great success, and

it's not justin bieber or barack obama as personality but barack obama who has always seen the hope of what america can be. hope of a more perfect union. >> also a very sobering tone to the speech. think of barack obama who began national political career talking about optimism and hope and change and unity and progress, ended presidency by defending certain things we didn't think a few years ago needed defending, science, basic facts, journalism, the ability of citizens to talk to each other on the most fundamental level. although i heard the optimism you're reflecting, i heard a great level of concern about it. also the shoutout to michelle obama, i've tried to report the story of the obama partnership and how it's affected this presidency. but i believe it's so subtle and deep and fascinating, we have to hand the baton to the historians. michelle obama pushed barack obama to become the politician she wanted him to be. was above it all lofty figure and wanted him to have elevated presidency. and in the way that jackie kennedy was in many ways the architect of the kennedy vision, say

obama as former president barack obama, nothing illustrates that more starkly than the helicopter waiting to take off with former president, former first lady. it is known for this mission as executive one. it's normally known as marine one. short flight across the military district of washington to what was formerly known as andrews air force base, now laden with the clunky pentagon title joint base andrews, as most of them are, but there you see the military lined up to escort the former president over to the aircraft. both men will be coming out this entrance. steve schmidt, your assessment of what we heard. >> i think there were two things that were striking. first this republican president's administration is not going to be animated by conservatism, but rather a fierce american nationalism. it will be interesting to see that play out. secondly, in very unusual for an inaugural address in the modern era, there was no articulation of american values, of the values of the post world war ii liberal order with the united states at the center of it, a communication to the world about our

. >> he wrote the great selma speech for barack obama. we have to treat him as peggy noonan time. >> favreau. >> the loftier speeches but these are great. >> back in the beginning in 2006 when barack obama won went to valerie jarrett's office, with the reverse scene of her packing up to go to the white house and pictures here. it's been eight years. been with him for eight years. lot long time. doesn't usually happen. >> i remember in 2009 on the mall. >> 300 degrees below 0. >> incredibly cold and different feeling back then when he was about to take office. certainly different from the feeling everybody at this table is probably experiencing with donald trump. >> do you think feel more like inauguration as the week progresses? i remember being here last two times, more people here, more festive attitude. i don't know why it's different this time. maybe people are waiting until the end of the week to come. we have a very different kind of president-elect this time. and obviously with president obama, even people that didn't vote for him,

barack obama was not. but the dignity in which you carry yourself in the office. ronald reagan, george h.w. bush, none of them perfect but there's a dignity they carried with themselves in office. and the difference between now and 2009, think we're waxing poetic about barack obama on the way out. 2009 night before inauguration attended a bipartisan dinner for john mccain and called him american hero and patriot. don't see that happening tonight with the president-elect. >> you have to remember there were a lot of ups and downs with president obama and we're focusing on a lot of the positives i think because he's leaving and the contrast with trump and approval started going up a lot in the election because people looking even at hillary clinton and options they have, hang on, maybe not so bad with barack obama. but he also has a fundamentally good temperament, a calm person. been criticized for it but bore fruit in this situation. way he thought it through, realized when it happened and behaved in a way, lot of us wondered could i be so gracious to someone who tr

different from barack obama but you're right, barack obama was very affair and his wife very aware, first african-american couple in the white house and they had to be almost perfect. i think that trump operates with a little more entitlement frankly. >> that's my point asking about history. you have to be aware of history as president and i think the obamas were very aware how history would judge them and how it would look. >> and conscious of how they presented themselves as african-american family. look at christmas photos look like norman rockwell painting but fact it's african-american family sends out message, positive message to the entire world. they cultivated that. >> every president, early days define you. then the early days and last days but you have to be careful about the early days. >> i think you're right. >> sets the tone. >> so if you stumble out of the gate and can't get a victory up there, that sets you behind. and frankly that's why donald trump coming in actually has extra burden now because he's not coming in with wind at his back and honeymoon but coming in with a

going to miss barack obama. you may disagree with him politically but he's good man at his core. >> speaking about the first lady. >> past 25 years not only been my wife and mother of my children but my best friend. [ cheers and applause ] you took on a role you didn't ask for, and you made it your own. with grace and with grit and with style. and good humor. [ cheers and applause ] you made the white house a place that belongs to everybody. and a new generation sets its sights higher because it has you as a role model. so you have made me proud and you have made the country proud. >> so joe, besides -- it takes a real man to cry when he's talking about his wife and kids. i loved seeing that. characterize that moment and first lady, michelle obama as the first lady. >> i must say, i sat at home and cried because you are looking at man who on martin luther king's birthday will have been married to a woman who is similar for 40 years. and i think what i appreciate most about it is the fact that he accentuated the

brock obama consigned the last piece of cold war legacy to history. -- barack obama consigned the last piece of cold war legacy to history. an extraordinary transformation. he leaves admired and largely popular, not the least were his role in the global climate change agreement. he tried to carve out a foreign policy that he saw as right for the times. as the commander-in-chief was given a traditional sendoff, in his own way he was as destructive to american power and influence as george w. bush. what with the nobel committee make of him eight years on? -- would the nobel committee make of him eight years on? jane: i spoke with the former u.s. defense secretary and bbc global affairs analyst, william cowan. n. william cohe how would you sum up the tone of president obama's presidency? william: the familiar ring is no drama obama. his foreign policy reflects that . he is highly intelligent and well spoken. very calm and cool. a lot of people would like to see more passion at times, and less professorship. think that that reflects the way that he has conducted his foreign policy, very co

"the new york times," the protest media loves barack obama right now. if 60% of the american people have an approval rating of barack obama, the press seems to have an 80% approval rating of him right now. >> and just adding the mainstream media here at cnn, wherever they may be, barack obama and michelle obama often times went around the mainstream media. they would go to celebrity-type shows to deliver their message. and also their administration started at a time when twitter and instant feedback came into full force. they were able to put out their own message and news briefing every week on youtube. so they understand how to manipulate the media. >> they did not have a big scandal in eight years. very rare. >> very classy family. and speaking of the obamas, michelle obama, the first lady spoke so movingly about the importance of electing hillary clinton, but also defeating donald trump. today the president was asked about his daughter's reaction to the election. he spoke at length and ended on a somewhat subdued note. here is what he said. >> man,

barack obama leaves this white house scandal free. even more importantly, there are a ton of people who are going to recognize tomorrow when barack obama leaves in his marine one, i believe called executive one, leaves with a 60% approval rating. donald trump tomorrow has the lowest approval rating of any president-elect in modern history. his task is to begin to unite the country, something he hasn't been able to do throughout the campaign, but we can't deny that he comes in here with the backing of very few people in this country. >> so let me ask you, jodie, because this is a poignant moment. if you've been on the streets or walked in front of the white house the past few days as most of us have, you see tourists coming in. so many people are here watching this. for the obamas, you see michelle obama's video she put out. how emotional is this for them? this last night? >> well, so, president obama has a really unusual writing assignment. he is going to write a letter to put in the oval office for donald trump to find. think about w

but no one has done with barack obama plans to do tonight. chicago, mccormick place, thousands crammed in to say good-bye to their hero. they greeted him in 2008 to hear him say i want to be president of the united states. now it is barack obama's chance to say good-bye and to put a final signature on his 8 years in office. we are told he's going to focus more on the future than dwell on the past. but he won't pass up an opportunity to say how far he we have come as a country. jeff flock in mccormick place on what we can expect from this estimated 30-minute address. >> erupting in applause as the bidens enter. this place is packed. if you said 20,000, everything from the journalists that covere >> reporter: the cabinet secretaries, elected officials. this place is just packed to the rafters with people who would suggest that these past eight years have been an unqualified success. a reduction in unemployment, fewer troops on foreign soil engaged in conflict, a higher graduation rate among high schoolers. they see this as a great success, and

barack obama called slavery the original sin of america. his presidency once held promise of redemption. that has not happened. is this country enters the trump era, the divisions between black and white america are felt, perhaps, more starkly than they have been in a generation. if there is anyone out there who still doubts that america is a place where all things are possible, tonight is your answer. that was the era of yes, we can. when black america seemed poised to claim a confident power apparently long denied. # i'm so reckless when i rocklike von she dressed # i'm so possess if # my daddy alabama, my mummy louisiana... to me it is a race war. you have black against white, white against black. from the swa m ps of white, white against black. from the swamps of washington to do by you of the south. beneath the surface of the south. beneath the surface of the post— racial society, fear. anger. and the deep roots of a history still unresolved. the final week of the obama presidency began with the annual commemoration for a man who gav

how would you sum up the legacy of barack obama in foreign policy? i think the major achievements of obama on foreign policy are primarily the opening of cuba and the iran nuclear deal. less ofa cuba and the iran nuclear deal. less of a headline but more responsible management of american obligations abroad, of rebuilding the public views of the united states, which have slipped towards the end of the bush administration, and most parts of the world recovered, over the course of that administration, generally trying, and obviously there are caveats, exceptions, there have been failures and mistakes, but on the old, trying to be a responsible steward of american foreign policy and america's role in the world. jacob, many thanks. stay with us and bbc news, much more coming up at the top of the hour, but now it is time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. the more things change, the more things stay the same. an adage that seems tailor—made for race relations in america. after eight years of a black president, amid a swirl of demogra

view barack obama and his time in office? >> any time the white house switches hands, it reflects on the president before. clinton when bill replaced george h.w. bush primarily because we had an outsider beating an incumbent. here we have an outsider defeating an insider that would have been a third continuation. one party has held the white house for three consecutive terms only once. this would have been a validation of obama's legacy. the american people did not give it to him. katty: how much have they been talking? what is the relationship going to be like? few times,e spoken a like when donald trump has criticized the ability of the transition. president obama called to touch base. this will be one of the more fascinating relationships in the years going forward. he will only be a couple of miles down the street, and they have such different worldviews. president obama says they get along. i'm not sure i believe that, but it is a relationship they will be talking through, because this incoming president has no experienc

barack obama doesn't seem to know how to do that. he in fact in private is a very introverted person who doesn't reach out via on a group of chicago operatives whom he's brought with him to the white house. >> when i got the idea for the brief against obama, and said hey, what's the worst thing president obama has done? for what up of course. i just made a list. people call up and say he's no friend of israel. he left that yahoo! in the base at. or it didn't help the iranian revolution. that came up a lot. unemployment is at such and such a rate as such and such a time. i just made up on this and i had a list of more than 50 suggestions. i whittled it down to 24 the 25th cap your is a summary chapter. let me repeat the table of contents. i'm not going to go through each of these because after all you need to buy the book. the nightmare of obamacare. a failed stimulus. stimulus to point out. the biggest spendthrift in history. that is true by the way. the committee organizer who collapsed housing. selling the roles of the unemployed,

i said barack hussein obama, president of the united states. that doesn't seem like it's going to sell in peoria. but he changed all the rules. >> his first line in the speech is "the plains of peoria." >> he said only in this country is my story possible. only now is my story possible he should have said. >> well, to me -- joy, how do you -- chris's point about this popularity, i think in some ways that's part of the thing that's so hard to get your head around. here's someone who had been a controversial president. he's overseen one of the most polarized eras since the civil war and yet is going out with -- as one of the more popular politicians of the country, one of the more popular exiting politicians in recent memory yet is going to turn this office over to a man who is a repudiation, rejection of him. >> it's incredible. i can recall interviewing people during the campaign who really liked barack obama, who voted for him twice, he wears very well as a president. you have to live with a president over time, he wears well, he's a congenial

the iranians do not fear barack obama. in international matters, it's clear, president obama believes global warming is more important than stabilizing and protecting the world. in the face of a global. now, global warming is real. climate change is happening. but mr. obama's vision of hurting certain economic sectors in america in order to lessen fossil fuel intrusion cannot possibly work unless countries like india and china do the same thing. as everyone knows, they are not. so, mr. obama imposed regulations that hurts the american economy, knowing full well that climate change wouldn't improve for a while. does that make any sense? at this point in history, two-thirds of the american people think america is on the wrong track. but they still like barack obama. his approval ratings are about 50%. that is up to the president's credit. he has put forth in emmett java responsibility. but as the nation's leader, mr. obama has not improved the economy to any significant extent, has not diminished poverty and poor education,