--- title: President Obama's Final Thoughts: 'We're Going to Be O.K.' description: President Obama ended his final press conference as he started his campaign for the White House nearly 10 years ago: optimistic canonical: https://time.com/4638301/barack-obama-final-white-house-press-conference/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-18T21:14:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:47:41.344Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama's Final Thoughts: 'We're Going to Be O.K.' og:description: "I believe in this country. I believe in the American people." og:url: https://time.com/4638301/barack-obama-final-white-house-press-conference/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt159db2379a6c3cc8/6988b60aa988ca38856baac9/barack-obama-out.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama waves as he leaves after his final press conference at the White House on Jan. 18, 2017 in Washington. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama's Final Thoughts: 'We're Going to Be O.K.' twitter:description: "I believe in this country. I believe in the American people." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt159db2379a6c3cc8/6988b60aa988ca38856baac9/barack-obama-out.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama's Final Thoughts: 'We're Going to Be O.K.' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 18, 2017 9:14 PM UTC  President Barack Obama waves as he leaves after his final press conference at the White House on Jan. 18, 2017 in Washington D.C. President Barack Obama waves as he leaves after his final press conference at the White House on Jan. 18, 2017 in Washington D.C. Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 18, 2017 9:14 PM UTC President Obama [ended his final press conference](http://time.com/4638194/president-obama-final-press-conference/) as he started his campaign for the White House nearly 10 years ago: optimistic and full of hope. Two days before he hands the White House over to a predecessor who has criticized much of his actions and agenda, the President said that he thinks things are going to turn out all right. “I believe in this country. I believe in the American people. I believe that people are more good than bad,” Obama said. “This is not just a matter of ‘no-drama Obama,’ but this is truly what I believe. At my core, I think we’re going to be O.K. We just have to work for it.” Obama’s remarks to the White House press corps, like [many of his comments in recent days](http://time.com/4631089/barack-obama-farewell-speech-analysis/), seemed to address the state of the country under President-elect Donald Trump both directly and indirectly. He warned his successor that he should think through the consequences of policies that he enacts, noted that there were “still going to be some battles that need to take place” on gay rights and said that there is a “stew bubbling up” in the country on race relations. He also subtly underscored his differences with Trump, who [refused to answer a question from a CNN reporter](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/313777-trump-berates-cnn-reporter-for-fake-news) at a recent press conference, by complimenting the press, arguing that it plays a vital role in safeguarding democracy. He also pointedly called on a diverse array of reporters from Fox News, Univision, al-Arabiya and an LGBT newspaper. When Obama and his family head off to Palm Springs, Calif., on Friday, it’ll be the start of a long-awaited vacation that he said would include quality time with his wife and two daughters and some writing. “It’s important for me to take some time to process this amazing experience that we’ve gone through,” Obama said. “I want to be quiet a little bit.” Still, he reiterated that there are issues that would spur him to jump back into the political arena as a private citizen. Among the subjects that he expressed continued concern about were systemic discrimination, voting rights and the deportation of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. Obama also took a moment to reflect on his status as the first African-American President, saying that he hoped in the future there would be a Jewish President, a Hindu president and even some “mixed-up” Presidents from multiracial backgrounds. “I think we’re going to see people of merit of every race, faith, corner of this country rise up,” he said. “That’s the strength of America.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4638301/barack-obama-final-white-house-press-conference/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4638301/barack-obama-final-white-house-press-conference/"},"headline":"President Obama's Final Thoughts: 'We're Going to Be O.K.'","datePublished":"2017-01-18T21:14:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:47:41.344Z","description":"\"I believe in this country\"","url":"https://time.com/4638301/barack-obama-final-white-house-press-conference/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt159db2379a6c3cc8/6988b60aa988ca38856baac9/barack-obama-out.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/blt159db2379a6c3cc8/6988b60aa988ca38856baac9/barack-obama-out.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama waves as he leaves after his final press conference at the White House on Jan. 18, 2017 in Washington.","caption":"President Barack Obama waves as he leaves after his final press conference at the White House on Jan. 18, 2017 in Washington.","creditText":"Brendan Smialowski—AFP/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/4638301/barack-obama-final-white-house-press-conference/","name":"President Obama's Final Thoughts: 'We're Going to Be O.K.'"}}]}] ```