Its a special edition of this week. Obama in the oval. Our final interview with president obama. Eight years ago, he came to our studio for the first time. A president elect confronting an economic crisis, just days away from taking his oath. Does it feel like youre president already . No. Youre going at quite a pace . All the bells and whistles. As much as we are working hard in the next couple of weeks, i think that when youre actually in the Oval Office Making decisions, i think thats going to be different. This time, just days away from the end of his presidency, we came to the white house for his final sunday interview. An hour in the oval office to reflect on the last eight years and the donald Trump Presidency coming next. I met the president in the residence. Mr. President , thank you for doing this. As were walking towards your office, i have to think youre going to miss this short commute. I am. Its one of the biggest benefits of being president that you dont think about until you get here. I have never had to travel more than 30 seconds from home to office. And its because of that that i have been able to maintain really a family life that has nurtured and sustained me during this time. How long did it take for the white house the feel like home, though . You know, it it took shorter i think for us just because when you got little kids, and youre tucking them in its home. Its home. Right . When they when you open a door, and theyre in their pajamas and theyre you know, wrestling with you and asking you, you know, to read to them and stuff. It starts feeling like home pretty quick. Not to mention having a motherinlaw upstairs. And, and the dog. And now two. It it feels even more like home now because you have all the memories that were formed watching your kids grow up. You talk about the kids. I know you all were a little bit apprehensive coming into the white house. They were young. Was it a good experience for them . You know you dont know how it would have turned out if they had grown up in chicago instead in a more normal environment. All i can say is they have turned out to be terrific young women. We were concerned mostly about whether they would develop an attitude. How not, yeah. And they are you know sweet, kind, funny, smart, respectful people. And they treat everybody with respect. Thats not just the biases of a parent. We feel pretty good when we hear back from friends, cause they still have sleepovers and go to other folks houses. The parents say, malia is just so sweet. Or sasha helped to pick up the dishes. What is it that youre doing to they never complained about it . They complained about secret service has they became teenagers. And, secret service has done, you know, the very best job they could accommodating them. So it hasnt restricted any of their activities. But as you might imagine, if youre a teenager, having a couple of people with always on your tail. With microphones and guns always following you around, that can grate on them. They have handled it with grace. I give michelle most of the credit for how well they have done. I also just think they are graceful, good young people young women. This part of the white house is so iconic. This is my favorite. Yeah. This walk. It it doesnt matter what time of day it is. In some ways, i feel more attached to this walk even than the oval office. I believe that. Yeah, theres something about these steps and thinking about everybody who has walked here. And all the business thats been done here. And business gets done on this walk. Yes, exactly. And even when you go up this ramp and you think about fdr wheeling himself up. You know. Got a little cigarette holder in his mouth. And, it that that awe that you feel. That reverence that you feel for the place never entirely leaves. Well, thats one of the things i was going to ask you. Because i know you kept in touch with people by reading those letters every day. How did you keep in touch with the presidency . Its an interesting question. I i more than anything, obviously, the presidency is the people. And its been interesting the emotions in the last few months what you realize is that you may never have a team that is together in the same way under the same pressures and the attachments that you make to folks from your chief of staff down to its the ultimate bunker. It is. And the people here have been extraordinary. We had a a farewell dinner for some of how cool i was. I had trouble getting through just a few remarks because not only do you appreciate the sacrifices they have made and the hours they have kept and the soccer games they have missed and the birthday parties. I also had a lot of young people who came in here. This probably you know echoes with you in your own experience. You were young when you got here. Didnt feel like it when i left. Yeah. But now suddenly, you got members of your team who were 23, 24. They met their wives here or met their husbands here. And you have a lot of eightyear people, too. Yeah. And they start bringing in their kids. Who, you think should be babies and now are in second grade or something. And you have watched them grow up. But the concentrated interactions and experiences you have here, i dont think i dont expect you can duplicate any place else. Were about to walk into the oval office. And i was just wondering, the big gut check decisions did you make them in the oval office or up in the treaty room at home . Um, i think i, i made them on this walk sometimes. You know, there are times where, i would say the oval office, you use to gather the facts. The decisions, you probably make late at night, at least i do. Im kind of a night owl up there. But there are times where you think you have made a decision but during that walk where youre announcing the decision you have to make sure that you youre prepared to live with it. Because, as you know, george, a lot of these decisions are not the outcomes are uncertain. Those Big Decisions are dwindling in these final days of obamas second term. But he has responsibility and power right up until the inauguration on january 20th. We sat down in the Oval Office Friday afternoon right after the president was briefed on the deadly airport shooting in ft. Lauderdale. And just minutes after the Intelligence Community released their report detailing how russia interfered in our president ial election. This Intelligence Report came out on the russian activities. The declassified version. Pretty stark opening senses. Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered an influenced campaign. We further assess that putin and the russian government developed a clear preference for president elect. President putin was trying to elect trump . I think the report is very clear. Number one, the russians sought to interfere with the election process. That the cyberhacking that took place, by the russians, was part of that campaign. And that they had a clear preference in terms of outcomes. What what i have repeatedly said is that you know, our intelligence communities spend a lot of time and effort gathering a lot of strands and a lot of data. There are times where, they are very cautious. They say, we think this is what happened. But were not certain. Saying high confidence here. This time, theyve got high confidence. And having seen some of the underlying sources. And information that theyre basing this on, i stand fully behind this report. What does that tell you about what president putin is trying to do right now . I think back to 2012, mitt romney talked about russia being the number one geostrategic threat. You kind of dismissed him. In the second debate. Did you underestimate Vladimir Putin . I dont think i underestimated him. I think i underestimated the degree to which, in this new information age, it is possible for misinformation, for cyberhacking and so forth, to have an impact on our open societies, our open systems, to insinuate themselves into our democratic practices in ways that i think are accelerating. So part of the reason i ordered this report was not simply to relitigate what happened over the last several months. But rather to make sure that we understand this is something that putin has been doing for quite some time in europe. Initially, in the former satellite states where there are a lot of russian speakers. But increasingly in western democracies. There are going to be elections coming up amongst our nato allies that we have to Pay Attention to. I anticipate this kind of thing can happen again here. And so in addition to the report assessing what exactly happened, what we have also done is to make sure that the department of Homeland Security and our intelligence teams are working with the various folks who run our elections. And, one of the things that i have urged the president elect to do is to develop a strong working relationship with the Intelligence Community. I think its important that congress, on a bipartisan basis, work with the next administration looking forward to make sure this kind of influence he met with the Intelligence Leaders this afternoon. Praised their work at the top. Still didnt seem to accept their conclusions. Fully. Talked about russia, china. Other countries. They made no assessment on whether this affected the outcome of the election. He said clearly it had no effect on the outcome of the election. What do you think . I think there are a lot of factors that go into an election. The bottom line is that donald trump is going to be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States of america. And its not necessarily profitable to sort of try to untangle all the different factors that went into it. The issue here is you have i think the clear example of how if were not vigilant, Foreign Countries can have an impact on the political debate in the United States in the ways that might not have been true 10, 20, 30 years ago. In part because of the way news is transmitted. And in part because so many people are skeptical of mainstream news organizations that everything is true and everything is false. Nothing is settled. Everything is contested. In that kind of environment, where theres so much skepticism about information thats coming in, were going to have to spend a lot more time thinking about how do we protect our democratic process. And as i have been saying for years, were going to have to spend a lot more time on cybersecurity. One of the reasons i ordered a commission. Bottom line this time Vladimir Putin got what he wanted. Well, look. I think that what is true is that the russians intended to meddle. And they meddled. And it could be another country in the future. It could be another election where you know, the, the alignments between republicans and democrats are different than they were this time. And who a foreign country prefers. Thats why i hope that this does not continue to be viewed purely through a partisan lens. I think there are republicans, as well as democrats, that are concerned about this. The two things we need to do, george. Number one, we have to spend a lot more time, energy, resources on cybersecurity. And it makes what makes this difficult is because its not just a government problem. Its a private sector and government problem. There has to be a lot more cooperation. That was a key recommendation of this commission that i got a report from just a few weeks ago. And the second thing we have to do is to make sure that all of us think about how we approach our elections and our democracy. Not only to secure them from vote tampering. Also to make sure that we understand when propaganda is being churned through the system. And one of the things, ill be honest with you, george. One of the things im concerned about is the degree to which we have seen a lot of commentary lately where there are republicans or pundits or cable commentators who seem to have more confidence in Vladimir Putin than fellow americans because those fellow americans are democrats. That cannot be. Does that include the president elect . Uh, well, what i will say is that um and i said this right after the election. We have to remind ourselves were on the same team. Vladimir putin is not on our team. If we get to a point where people in this country feel more affinity with a leader who is an adversary and views the United States and our way of life as a threat to him, then were going to have bigger problems than just cyberhacking. You have talked to president elect trump now several times over the course of the transition. What have you tried to impress on him about the job . Well, as i have said before, the conversations have been cordial. Hes been open to suggestions. And the main thing that i have tried to transmit is that theres a difference between governing and campaigning. So that what he has to appreciate is as soon as you walk into this office after you have been sworn in, youre now in charge of the Largest Organization on earth. You cant manage it the way you would manage a family business. You cant manage it the way you would manage a senate office. I was a senator before i became president. And so, you have to have a strong team around you. You have to have respect for institutions and the process. To make good decisions because you are inherently reliant on other folks. So, when i talk to him about our intelligence agencies, what ive said to him is that there are going to be times where you have raw intelligence that comes in and in my experience, over eight years, the Intelligence Community is pretty good about saying, look, we cant say for certain what this means. But there are going to be times where, uh the only way you can make a good decision is if you have confidence that the process is working. And the people that you have put in charge are giving you their very best assessments. How has he impressed you . Uh, you know, he is somebody who i think is very engaging. Gregarious. You like him . You know, i have enjoyed the conversations that weve had. Hes somebody who i think is not lacking in confidence. Which is i think some say that about you, too. Well, thats what i was saying. Its probably a prerequisite for the job. Or at least you have to have enough craziness to think that you can do the job. Um i think that he has not spent a lot of time sweating the details of, you know, all the policies that does that worry you . Well, i think that can be both a strength and a weakness. I think it depends on how he approaches it. If he if it gives him fresh eyes, then that can be valuable. But it also requires you knowing what you dont know. And putting in place people who do have the kinds of experience and background and knowledge that can inform good decisionmaking. And, look, i im i think its fair to say that he and i are sort of opposites in some ways. Voters often do that, dont they . Yeah. But um so lets say im on the policy wonk end of the spectrum. As much as i can dive into a briefing book and really work to master various subjects that come before my desk, im still not an expert on a huge amount of the stuff that we work on. But i do make sure that ive got people who are experts that are helping me make the best decisions possible. And if you dont have good people, and you dont have a good process, and you dont have at some level, the basic reverence for this office and an understanding of the the incredible responsibilities and obligations, then i think you can get into trouble. Youre also not much of a tweeter. He was on a tirade this morning. Sent out a lot of tweets early this morning. Clearly, according to him and his people, hes going to continue to do it behind that desk. Good idea . On the one hand, information is moving quick. I or the way in which people consume information is changing so fast. Clearly this worked for him. It gives him a direct connection to a lot of the people that voted for him. Uh ive said to him, and i think others have said to him that the day that he is the president of the United States, there are world capitals and Financial Markets and people all around the world who take really seriously what he says. And in a way thats just not true before youre actually sworn in as president. More of my Oval Office Interview with president obama when we come back. We talk about how hell engage the battles to preserve his legacy. Especially owe bah ka kair. His toughest decisions in h the white house. How heel feel about the moment on Inauguration Day when power passes from him to president trump. Ah. Still sick, huh . Ill take it from here. Im good. I just took new mucinex clear and cool. Ah whats this sudden cooling thing happening . Its got a menthol burst. You can feel it right away. Wow, that sort of blindsided me. And it clears my terrible cold symptoms. Ahh this is awkward. New mucinex clear cool. Feel the menthol burst. 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And biotene also comes in a handy spray. So you can moisturize your mouth anytime, anywhere. Biotene, for people who suffer from dry mouth symptoms. Rise above joint discomfort with move free ultras triple action joint support for improved mobility and flexibility, and 20 better comfort from one tiny, mighty pill. Get move free ultra, and enjoy living well. During the campaign, many of your speeches, you say all the progress we have made in the last eight years go out the window. If we dont win. Still think that . No. I think that the risk to all the progress we have made was at stake in the election. Because not just the president elect but a lot of members of congress including now the speaker of the house and the Senate Majority leader have said that their principal agenda was to undo a lot of this progress. But, as i have been talking about over the last several days when it comes to health care, the gains that we have made are there. 20 Million People have Health Insurance that didnt visit before. The uninsured rate is the lowest its ever been. The rise in Health Care Costs since obamacare, the Affordable Care act was passed have been at their lowest rate in 50 years. Those savings have extended the Medicare Trust fund by 11 years. We have a baseline of facts. Heres where we were. Heres where we are now. So, it is is true theoretically that all that progress can be undone and suddenly 20 Million People or more dont have Health Insurance. But, as republicans are now recognizing thats may not be what the American People, including even trump voters, are looking for. And, my hope is that the president elect, members of congress from both parties, look at where have we objectively made progress, where things are working better. Dont undo things just because i did them. I dont have pride of authorship. I said today in a forum on health care, if the republicans can come up with a system that insures more people, cheaper, better i will be the first one i can tell by your smile you dont think they can do it. Well, im skeptical that they can do it because for seven years, i said, okay, if this doesnt work, tell me, what does . In this room, i had meetings with republican senators who initially were trying to engage, but saw that the politics of no were growing inside the Republican Party. And i remember having a conversation in the oval office with one of those senator who is was starting to get a little sheepish about what compromises might garner his support. And finally i asked him, is there any changes i could make that would get you to support this, he said probably not, mr. President. Which was a nice change in terms of his candor. But what that means then is that now the burden is to take a look. Dont just oppose things because this was obamas agenda. Sounds like thats whats happening right now. Well, thats whats happening at the moment. People are anxious about their future and their childrens futures. But they dont want folks to be reckless. And they dont want this town to just be tit for tat. And you know, one of the gratifying things, i think, about the end of my presidency, even though admittedly, my successor ran against a lot of what we stood for, is when you look at the individual issues and the progress we have made on a lot of issues, we got the support of a decent majority. Even on health care, what you have seen is a lot of stories surfacing lately about people who said, well, i voted for trump. But i dont think hell take away health care. Is obamacare going to survive . I think it will. It may be called something else. As i said, i dont mind. If, in fact, the republicans make some modifications, some of which i may have been seeking previously. But they wouldnt cooperate because they didnt want to make the system work. And relabel it as trumpcare, im fine with that. Because what im thinking about are the millions of people, many of whom write me very personal letters. Dear mr. President , i did not vote for you. I was against obamacare. And then, my son who didnt have Health Insurance, signed up. And we just found out that he had an illness. And thankfully, hes now covered. Otherwise, he might not have gotten treatment or i might have lost my house. You have people around the country who are benefiting from the steps that we have taken. And as long as they continue to get helped, then at least ill know in my own mind that the work we did here had a lasting impact. You have often said that your toughest day in the office was the day of the newtown shootings. What was your toughest decision . The toughest decision was early in my presidency when i ordered 30,000 more troops into afghanistan. As somebody who had run to end a a large troop presence overseas. Now i had said from the start that i thought iraq was a mistake. That we should have stayed focused on afghanistan. I think it was the right decision, because the taliban at that point had gotten a lot of momentum. Since that time, weve been able to build up the Afghan Security forces and stabilize it. That was the first time in which i looked out at a crowd of west point graduates, and knew that some of those might not come back because of that decision. Then how disappointing is it to you that even though its far fewer, there will still be troops in afghanistan and iraq as you leave . One of the things that i have learned. I think we have all learned, is that were not going to get the kind of decisive, permanent victories in the fight against terrorism that we would get from fighting a another country. Were not going to get that mcarthur emperor moment. Because by definition, even after decimating al qaeda, even after taking out bin laden, there are still people there who have both the interest and the capacity if we dont maintain vigilance to strike against the United States. And these are still countries that are fragile enough that were going to have to partner with them in some way. But, we dont have this huge footprint. Were less likely to be targeted as you know, occupiers. And, if you look at the current Mosul Campaign against isil, for example, the few thousand troops we have there to support that effort allows the Iraqi Military to move forward in an effective way. Would they do it as fast as if we had 50,000 or 100,000 marines in there . Obviously not. But it does give us the ability to make sure that we are strengthening those folks who are interested in building up their countries rather than destroying them and doing so in a way that is sustainable and doesnt put a constant burden on the amazing men and women we have in uniform. What has to be a disappointment on the home front is that it looks like the Democratic Party got hollowed out on your watch. About 1,000 seats lost in the congress, senate, governors, state houses. Is that on you . I take some responsibility for that. I think that some of it was circumstances. If you look at what happened, i came in in the middle of the worst financial crisis since the great depression. I think we did a really good job in saving this economy. And putting us back on the track of growth. But what that meant is in 2010, there were a lot of folks who were still out of work. There the were a lot of folks who had lost their homes or saw their home values plummet. Their 401 k s plummet. We were just at the beginnings of the recovery. And the president you know, whoever is president at that point is going to get hit and his party is going to get hit. So some of this was circumstances. But i think that what is also true is that partly because my docket was really full here, so i couldnt be both chief organizer of the Democratic Party and function as commander in chief and president of the United States. We did not begin what i think needs to happen over the long haul. And that is rebuild the Democratic Party at the ground level. Part of your job now . Well, i think that its something that i have an interest in. I started as a community organizer. Every one of my campaigns was premised on getting new people involved. And if theres a theme in my public career its that if ordinary people get involved, then good things happen. So i want to see the Democratic Party move in that direction. And what that means is that we arent just microtargeting to eke out president ial victories. It mears that were showing up in places where right now were not winning a lot. But if youre not at least in there making an argument that, hey, you know what . Its the democrats trying to raise your minimum wage. The democrats trying to make sure that you have health care or that your Health Care Costs are not killing you. Its democrats who are making sure that your kids are not drinking polluted water. If were not there making the argument, the cultural gulf that republicans try to exploit saying, oh, these city slickers, theyre looking down on you. They dont care about you. That argument ends up being successful. We have to do a better job of showing up. I was able to do that when i was the candidate. But, i have not ive not seen or presided over that kind of systematic outreach that i think needs to happen. And when we come back, the president reflects on his place in history. 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You knmegared omega3s. But did you know your eyes, your brain, and your joints really love them too . Introducing megared advanced 4in1. Just one softgel delivers the omega3 power of two regular fish oil pills. So give your body mega support with megared advanced 4in1. This is jfks desk, right . Yeah, he used it. A famous story. A famous woman, claire booth. What is on her mind, he asked. She said, the greater the man, the easier is to describe him in a single sentence. She said to him, hat is your sentence . What is yours . What was his . I dont care what history thinks. Im sure he did. Uh i i would like to think that maybe the sentence is president obama believed deeply in this democracy and the American People. Because, as i reflect back on whats worked for me in this office, its been that ive gotten people who maybe didnt believe in the process to get engaged. Ironically, i have even gotten the other side, that maybe didnt believe in the process, to get encaged. I gather im the father of the tea party. I invigorated the grass roots in the Republican Party as well as the Democratic Party. So you know, i uh if health care got done because there were a lot of people out there who are not professional politicians but are citizens who pushed for it, even when the politics was hard. Did you succeed on your own terms . In the campaign, you talked about Ronald Reagan changing the trajectory of the country. Setting the country on a fund mentally different path. Do you think you did that . I think i did in the sense that theres a whole generation coming up behind us that was engaged, inspired, worked for change during the course of my presidency. Saw what was possible. And, that generation, its coming. Theyre not the majority yet. Theyre going to be the majority soon. When you look at how they value diversity. How they believe in science. How they care about the environment. How they believe in not discriminating against people for Sexual Orientation and their belief that we have to work with other countries to create a more peaceful world. And to alleviate poverty. That is the majority of an entire generation that is coming up behind us. They didnt come out to vote. Well, you know, they came out to vote for me. And they came out to vote where that um spirit was touched. The next phase, and this is part of what im interested in doing after i get out of the presidency, is to make sure that im working with that generation so they ups thnderstand that yo cant just rely on inspiration. Theres a little perspiration involved in bringing about change, too. That you have to be organized. That you have to vote. Even when its not exciting. I imagine you think the presidency is something you get better at over time. You do. But at what point does the experience become a liability . What put this in my mind was reading bob gates memoir. He talks about being in meetings with you. He talks about the raids on osama bin laden. Maybe hes getting too cautious. Maybe hes been there too long. Is that a risk . I believe in term limits for president s. Because i think that theres no doubt im a better president now than i was when i started. I am the best president i have ever been over the last year or two. My team is is more effective than its ever been. But, what is also true is is that number one, this is grueling. And sustaining the energy and focus involved in doing a good job i think starts to starts to get tougher the longer you do it. The second thing is the bubble is the bubble. And and, i think we have done a pretty good job staying in touch with the American People. But at a certain point, you cant help but lose some feel for whats on the ground because youre not on the ground. And you didnt think donald trump could win. Case in point. Uh, so so that tells me that theres a utility in the democracy refreshing itself. On an ongoing basis. And thats part of what i tried to describe to my team and supporters after the election. Theres a lot of disappointment. You know, what ive said to them is, look, we ran our leg of the race. And we did a darn good job. I can document, in fact, this past week, weve put out memos from every agency showing what did we do. Tried to be as honest as possible. Theres a little hype involved, obviously. We feel some pride about it. But tried to be selfcritical, as well. You can argue we didnt get everything done we wanted to get done. I can make a strong argument and i think prove, by almost every measure the country is better off now than when i started. What that means, then, is, if we started here and were now here, just like i described in health care. Yeah. Somebody comes in, they got new ideas, maybe new ideas that are completely opposite of my ideas. Maybe some of that goes maybe some of the progress goes back. Maybe they think of things we didnt think of and so in other areas, we can learn something. But that just gives sort of the democracy an opportunity to test ideas. For those who lost, to catch their breath. Regain energy. Reenergize themselves and get back in the arena and well make more progress in the future. One possible exception. The first line of your biography is probably the first africanamerican president. Part of your promise when you first burst on the scene is bringing everyone together. Most africanamericans think we have gone back wards on Race Relations over the last eight years. What do you say to that . Im im absolutely convinced that Race Relations on the whole are actually better now than they were better now . Yes. But we have greater awareness of where were falling short than we used to. But lets just take the example of Community Police relations. The truth of the matter is that the problem of Police Shootings and reactions in the community, george, you and i are about the same age. I think you remember what happened in los angeles after rodney king. I think you remember what the divisions that happened after the o. J. Trial. I think you the notion that somehow any of that is new is not the case. What is true, though, is now we have a bunch of videos that whatever side of the issue youre on, raises the temperature on these issues. And makes people really focused and trying to figure out what exactly is this . And, i think that is a healthy thing. I also, im not so out of touch that i dont see how young people interact today. And that horrific Facebook Live video yesterday. Well, it was horrific. Its not as if thats the first time a hate crime has taken place in this country. Hate crimes have been taking place for hundreds of years in this country. But its there on video. Seeing cruelty and callousness of that sort from young people is heartbreaking. So naturally, if you see a video like that, youre going to say to yourself, my god, this is horrible. And rightfully so. But that allows us then to talk about how do we break free from those kinds of attitudes . During the course of my presidency crime has been the lowest its been probably since the 60s. But you wouldnt know it if you were watching tv or the internet. You wouldnt know it listening to this past campaign. There are some exceptions. Chicago, my hometown, in particular. Overall in the country. This is a much safer place than it used to be. And so we have to are recognize, we have big problems on race just like still big problems on crime like big problems on just about everything. But we also have to make sure that we draw confidence from the progress that we have made. Because otherwise, you get into the cycle of cynicism. And you also you get into Unrealistic Expectations where you think that, well, were going to eliminate racism like that. After obama is elected, how could there be any racism . That was never a realistic expectation. I have one final question. I have a very strong memory of your inaugural. Yeah. If that moment, youre walking out of the capital. The president elect of the United States, barack h. Obama. You see the mall for the first time. You kind of pause and take it all in. Do you remember what you were thinking and feeling at that moment . I was thinking to myself, lets make sure i dont screw this up. I think there is a a people always talk about how cool i am. I dont care how cool you are. Jfk gave probably the greatest inauguration speech ever at the first time. I guarantee you when he first walked out there, he was thinking, goodness gracious. This is this is big. And i better be up to the task. I think the second inauguration, you may recall, i finished my speech, i was walking out. And i decided, you foe what . Let me turn back and remember this. And what i remember thinking at that point, having gone through both the ups and downs of my first four years and seeing the sea of people, was what a remarkable country this is. And how lucky am i . That we live in a place where the son of a single mom not born into any kind of fame or fortune in a pretty remote state somehow can end up being in a position to make a difference. And at that moment, just a little under two weeks from now, when president elect trump finishes the oath, power passes from you to him. Yeah. What emotion will you be left with . Its hard to say. Its hard to anticipate. I can tell you what im feeling right now is that im busier than i expected these last two weeks. A great deal of emotion around the people that ive worked with and the gratitude i feel for the sacrifices they have made on behalf of the American People but also on behalf of me personally. And i think i will still feel that same appreciation for what churchill and others have said is the worst form of government except all the alternatives. Mr. President , thank you very much. Thank you. Just 12 days left. Another president coming in. Well be right back. That is all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. We have a big week in politics ahead. Abc news will be there for all of it. Ill anchor our coverage of the farewell address of president obama. Tuesday night at 9 00 eastern. Wednesday, the First Press Conference for president elect trump. Check out world news tonight. And ill see you tomorrow on gma. Its a brandnew day in harrisburg, trenton, dover, and washington. Well talk about it on inside story now. Good morning, everyone. Im matt odonnell. It is sunday january 8, 2017. Welcome to inside story. Lets meet our insiders of the week. Jim eisenhower, attorney, joins us this morning. Hi, jim. Jan ting, law professor. Happy new year. Hi, jan. Ajay raju, attorney. Happy new year. You, too, and dom giordano, radio talkshow host. Went to law school, just for the record, with three other attorneys here. [ laughter ] well put that down there as an addendum, how about that . Thank you. Well, its a new year, and its a time for people that you elected and pay to run our governments to get down to business. Now, for instance, the Pennsylvania Legislature elected its new leadership for this year. No change, joe scarnati returned as president pro tempore of the senate, mike turzai returns as a