--- title: Ann Patchett: President Obama Shows His Love description: "How we see the world depends on our outlook. Barack Obama has given the American people his example." canonical: https://time.com/4639527/ann-patchett-president-obama/ author: Ann Patchett article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-19T17:39:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:43.425Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Ann Patchett: Barack Obama, Our President of Love og:description: 'Barack Obama has given the American people his example' og:url: https://time.com/4639527/ann-patchett-president-obama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63edd526dab1e615/6988b6320a4a2211ea9cc9d0/barack-obama-michelle-joe-biden-love-presidency.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2166 og:image:height: 1218 og:image:alt: Hillary Clinton Holds Get Out The Vote Rally With Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ann Patchett: Barack Obama, Our President of Love twitter:description: 'Barack Obama has given the American people his example' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63edd526dab1e615/6988b6320a4a2211ea9cc9d0/barack-obama-michelle-joe-biden-love-presidency.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ann Patchett: Barack Obama, Our President of Love > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: 10 Days that Define the Obama Presidency: Trump's Election [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Days that Define the Obama Presidency: Trump's Election](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/93eTfkcq.m3u8) (4:10)  _Published 2017-01-18. As President Obama's two terms in office come to a close, TIME is taking a look back at the most pivotal moments of his presidency._ by [Ann Patchett](https://time.com/author/ann-patchett/) ## Ann Patchett Jan 19, 2017 5:39 PM UTC  Michelle Obama and Barack Obama embrace during "The Night Before" campaign rally at Independence Hall on November 7, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Michelle Obama and Barack Obama embrace during "The Night Before" campaign rally at Independence Hall on November 7, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Taylor Hill—WireImage/Getty Images by [Ann Patchett](https://time.com/author/ann-patchett/) ## Ann Patchett Jan 19, 2017 5:39 PM UTC It’s an old story: a wise man walks into [the kingdom](http://time.com/collection/the-issues/) of [an angry and mistrustful king](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/) and says, “Go out and find me [one truly good man](http://time.com/barack-obama-joe-biden-friendship-photos/).” The king puts on a disguise and for the next year he talks to every person he meets, not only in his own kingdom, but in all the neighboring kingdoms, and in the end he returns and reports this mythical creature, this truly good man, cannot be found. “Some came close,” says the king. “But when I really examined them, they were, in their hearts, all bad.” And so the wise man goes to the next kingdom, where the king is loving and kind, and he says, “Go out and find me one truly bad man.” This king, too, fails at his task. “I met some people who seemed bad at first,” the king says. “But once I got to know them, I found that there was always some good.” **A great deal** of how we see the world depends on our outlook. For the past eight years, [President Obama](http://time.com/4636294/president-barack-obama-highlights/) has given the American people the example of his careful consideration, compassion, rigorous intelligence and, wonder of wonders, his love. Love was not something I would have previously thought to look for in a President, but now I’m wondering how I’ll do without it. It’s there in all those pictures taken of the President with children, the mutual joy in every encounter. It’s in the expansive tenderness and respect he showed his family: mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, sisters, daughters, Michelle. [Michelle and Barack Obama](http://time.com/barack-michelle-obama-love-story-photos/). If you’ve lived without an example of respectful adult love in your family, all you had to do was look to the White House to see how it should be done. There’s been love in the constant celebration of the achievements of others, in the President’s willingness to shine the klieg light of his attention onto veterans, scientists, artists and educators. He loves [books](http://time.com/4638127/barack-obama-book-list/)! Obama has given more Presidential Medals of Freedom than any other President, saving the last one for his Vice President, [Joe Biden](http://time.com/4633555/joe-bien-presidential-medal-freedom/), whom he called “my brother” at the surprise ceremony. Biden, like the rest of us watching, was in tears. Obama’s final days in the White House have been a fire sale of love: he got it out there as fast as he could, trying to release as much good as the law allowed, and it was not just the attempt to make sure some 18 million Americans will continue to have the right to health insurance, an effort that may well prove futile. It was bigger than that, and it was smaller. One of his Administration’s final acts was to declare the [rusty patched bumblebee](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/01/bumblebees-endangered-species-rusty-patched/) an endangered species, the first bee species in the continental U.S. to be awarded protection. If God has his eye on the sparrow, as I was assured as a girl in Catholic school, then Obama had his eye on the bumblebee. **For eight years,** Americans were the beneficiaries of the President’s example, and I am going to miss it. Love seeps in over time, just like hate. I’d gotten so used to the decency of our President that I had come to think of decency as a right rather than a privilege. I was wrong about that. Presidents, like gods and fathers, have a long tradition of showing their concern through discipline. Obama, who was never short on discipline, seemed to believe that rigor was not undermined by kindness and joy. I keep trying to dissect the enormous lump in my throat as we face the end of Obama’s presidency. Certainly part of it is a fear of the future, and the specter of a new President who stands in stark opposition to everything Obama has worked for and achieved these past eight years. But part of the lump in my throat is gratitude. Obama spent eight years showing us how it’s done. He saw the good in us, he saw the love, and he told us so. Now all we have to do is live up to it. _This appears in the January 30, 2017 issue of TIME._ ## Transcript I had a chance to talk to President Elect Trump last night, about 3: 30 in the morning I think it was, to congratulate him on winning the election, and I had a chance to invite him to come to the white house tomorrow to talk about making sure there is a successful transition between our presidencies. In 2016 President Obama Spent a lot of time on the campaign trail, trying to rally the country around his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. I believe in Hillary Clinton, and I want you to help elect her to be the next President of the United States of America. But on November 8th, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. While the campaign is over Our work on this movement is now really just beginning. Which was kind of a shock for the Obama administration and in a way can be seen as a rebuke of his legacy and his policies. Trump presented himself as about as opposite A person from President Obama's you could be Obama had talk about being inclusive and uniting. We should be doing everything we can to welcome new generations of hopeful striving immigrants. Trump profited a great deal from being very divisive and alarming. Mr Trump. Yes. So, the former president of Mexico says, they will not [ INAUDIBLE ] what is your response to that? My response is the world just got ten feet higher. I think that the biggest issue that let to Trump's victory was that the same forces that had elected Obama in 2008, 2012 played in Trump's favor. And that was that Obama was able to sell the idea that he was the person Who could best bring relief from the economic frustrations that the country was feeling. The fact that Obama was never able to deliver on what was really a central promise of his entire presidency, to really materially improve the life of middle- class Americans. That ended up being the decisive thing that helped Trump win. For most Americans, are they better off the day Barrack Obama left office and didn't the day he entered? Almost without a doubt, unquestionably so. The question is, do they give him any credit for it? And how much credit will history give him? We don't know the answer to that yet. The challenge for the President, in a lot of ways, is that the first 20 lines of his obituary were written [ MUSIC ] The minute he took office. His election itself was so historic that it overshadowed a lot of what came next. I think the lack of scandal in his administration is notable. The enormous social change that happened under his presidency is notable. The fact that he was able to get so much legislation enacted in his first two years was very dramatic. At the same time. His central promise that he would be able to unite red and blue America into something else never came to be. I think looking back you see a man who ran on hope and change. Who brought his version of change to the country that people either liked or they didn't. Barack Obama, no matter what you thought about him going in, was at the end of the day a man who tried to his best for the sake of the country. My fellow Americans, it has been the honor of my life to serve you. I won't stop. [ APPLAUSE ] In fact I will be right there with you, as a citizen, for all my remaining days. But, for now whether you are young, or whether you're young at heart, I do have one final ask of you As your president. The same thing I asked when you took a chance on me eight years ago. I am asking you to believe not in my ability to bring about change, but in yours. Yes, we can. [ APPLAUSE ] Yes, we did. [ APPLAUSE ] Yes, we can. [ APPLAUSE ] Thank you, God bless you. May God continue to bless the United States of America. Thank you. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4639527/ann-patchett-president-obama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4639527/ann-patchett-president-obama/"},"headline":"Ann Patchett: Barack Obama, Our President of Love","datePublished":"2017-01-19T17:39:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:43.425Z","description":"'How we see the world depends on our outlook. 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