BARACK OBAMA

Ever since the startling upset election of Donald Trump, and perhaps even before that, President Barack Obama has seemed like a changed man, very different from the cool-customer persona he presented to the public during most of his presidency.

Whereas earlier he was consistently calm, studied, difficult to provoke, an intellect-over-emotion man not quick to act, over the last few months, and especially lately, he has been practically the president as action figure. 

He wasn’t just making speeches, he was doing things — executive actions galore, trying to salvage his policy achievements, startling the world and angering Israel with an abstention in the United Nations, pursuing direct action against Russia for alleged massive hacking.                             

Yet, many of Obama’s appearances and actions were also elegiac. They forced us to remember the man in full, and our time with him. This was particularly true for residents of greater Washington, where he often intersected with our lives in the flesh — out with the first lady on restaurant excursions, living and working in the White House, at state dinners, tree lightings, the routine ceremonials, a blurred moment in a motorcade, at State of the Union addresses and two improbable inaugurals.         
   
While his policy initiatives — notably “Obamacare” — often excited fierce opposition in the GOP (and frequently irrational responses on the fringes of the right), exacerbating America’s blue-red divide, Obama steadily grew into the role of American president.

With Michelle Obama, their daughters and the Bidens, Barack Obama also embodied the values of family and friendship. This more personal side of his presidency, a portal into the life of the First Family, was a demonstration of how presidents and their families and friends should behave. There were no scandals of greed, sexual misbehavior or corruption. What’s more, the Obamas — attractive, attentive, accessible — acted in a manner that suggested we were witnessing a real-life American family, rooted in deep affection and respect.

The president deserved respect, not just because he wore the mantle of office and had the title, but because of the way he behaved, from the beginning. He was a historic figure, the first African American ever elected president, drawing an awestruck reaction of joy from the nation’s African Americans, many of whom had adopted the consolation of “not in my lifetime,” only to see themselves and their lives transformed. 

Whether or not the president lived up to often unrealistic expectations as to what they could gain from his presidency is a difficult question; Obama always seemed keenly aware of his historic role, and was therefore keenly careful of how he exercised power within that framework (perhaps, by some judgments, too careful).         
  
From day one, this president experienced unrelenting partisan opposition, criticism and even hatred. He did not forego attempts at bipartisanship, but most would agree that his attempts failed. Obama suffered through House Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s stated determination to prevent his success, a congressman from South Carolina yelling, “You lie, you lie,” during a State of the Union speech and Trump’s equally determined attempt to prove the president was not a citizen, which he finally dropped without comment during the campaign.

Known for his stirring hope-and-change candidacy, Obama was a powerful orator who could inspire action and soothe the pain of tragedy. His speeches in the aftermath of the slaughter of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, of the murder of Dallas police officers and of nine black parishioners at a South Carolina church were purposeful, stirring, eloquent as prayers. He was our mourner in chief in a way that no other president had been.

History did not evade him, and his administration made a difference. He took office in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression and halted the horrible slide that had occurred, launching a stimulus package and an infrastructure effort, as well as the much maligned but sorely needed Affordable Care Act — all of which were accomplished without much help from across the aisle (and, for that matter, sometimes not much effort to gain it).

During Obama’s time, gays and lesbians achieved the right to marry, two women jurists were named to the Supreme Court and his military forces hunted down and killed 9/11 planner and perpetrator Osama bin Laden. Obama pursued a cleaner, greener planet. He won two elections — the one perhaps a meeting of man and time, when Americans suddenly seemed ready to take that first step.

They were not wrong to do so.

The Obamas, who want to see their youngest daughter through school in Washington, are renting in Kalaroma — where they will have as neighbors Ivanka Trump and her husband and children. He’s not leaving. He’s only moving.

So it’s not farewell, Mr. President. It’s more like, see you around the neighborhood.