--- title: President Obama: I'll Give Donald Trump Room to Govern description: President Obama said Sunday that he does not intend to interject frequently when he turns things over to President-elect Donald Trump canonical: https://time.com/4578271/barack-obama-donald-trump-transition/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-21T12:55:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:55:52.912Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama: I'll Give Donald Trump Room to Govern, Unless... og:description: "I want to be respectful of the office" og:url: https://time.com/4578271/barack-obama-donald-trump-transition/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce740406f66c0bab/6988af30cf40a8799cc45a12/gettyimages-624759990.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Key Speakers At The APEC 2016 Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama: I'll Give Donald Trump Room to Govern, Unless... twitter:description: "I want to be respectful of the office" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce740406f66c0bab/6988af30cf40a8799cc45a12/gettyimages-624759990.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama: I'll Give Donald Trump Room to Govern, Unless... by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Nov 21, 2016 12:55 PM CUT  U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2016 CEO Summit on November 20, 2016 in Lima, Peru. Manuel Medir/CON—LatinContent/Getty Images U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2016 CEO Summit on November 20, 2016 in Lima, Peru. Manuel Medir/CON—LatinContent/Getty ImagesManuel Medir/CON—LatinContent/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Nov 21, 2016 12:55 PM CUT [President Obama](http://time.com/4302043/barack-obama-2016-time-100/ "undefined") said Sunday that he does not intend to interject frequently when he turns things over to [President-elect Donald Trump](http://time.com/4574493/donald-trump-chaotic-transition/?xid=homepage&pcd=hp-magmod "undefined")—but that he will speak up in defense of American ideals. Speaking at a news conference in Peru, on what was the President’s final international trip in office, Obama offered praise for his predecessor George W. Bush, who he said “could not have been more gracious to me when I came in.” “I want to be respectful of the office and give the President-elect an opportunity to put forward his platform and his arguments without somebody popping off in every instance,” he said. Obama added: “If there are issues that have less to do with the specifics of some legislative proposal or battle, but go to core questions about our values and our ideals, and if I think that it’s necessary or helpful for me to defend those ideals, then I’ll examine it when it comes.” “But what I do know is, is that I have to take Michelle on vacation.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4578271/barack-obama-donald-trump-transition/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4578271/barack-obama-donald-trump-transition/"},"headline":"President Obama: I'll Give Donald Trump Room to Govern, Unless...","datePublished":"2016-11-21T12:55:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:55:52.912Z","description":"\"I want to be respectful of the office\"","url":"https://time.com/4578271/barack-obama-donald-trump-transition/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","Michelle Obama","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce740406f66c0bab/6988af30cf40a8799cc45a12/gettyimages-624759990.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce740406f66c0bab/6988af30cf40a8799cc45a12/gettyimages-624759990.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Key Speakers At The APEC 2016 Conference","caption":"Key Speakers At The APEC 2016 Conference","creditText":"Manuel Medir/CON—LatinContent/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4578271/barack-obama-donald-trump-transition/","name":"President Obama: I'll Give Donald Trump Room to Govern, Unless..."}}]}] ```