Let's be honest: Since Trump won, Obama has been pretty awesome

Statesman?

He may very well have an angle. And it's entirely possible that his ego won't let this last.

But as much as we've criticized just about everything Obama's done as president - and justifiably so, I would maintain - I can't help but give him credit now for the way he's handling the early segments of the transition.

Obama has been magnanimous in his treatment of Donald Trump, and he seems to remember how professional the Bush team was during the transition to his administration, and seems determined to follow his predecessor's example and do the same for Trump.

The Wall Street Journal had a rather extraordinary story about Trump's surprise at realizing he would have to replace the entire White House staff by Inauguration Day, and about Obama's realization that he needs to spend more time than he had planned on with his successor, helping to make sure he understands the full scope of the job.

I suppose you could argue that someone from Obama's team leaked this to make Trump look bad, but no one in Trump's camp is denying it.

I thought Obama's handling of today's press conference, his first since the election, was the best example yet of this:

Now, like I said, Obama could very well have an angle here. I'm sure he'd like to talk Trump into sparing as much of ObamaCare as possible. (And he spends a fair amount of time in the video above pitching that very thing.) He has already bought a home in D.C., so he's not headed back to Chicago. Obama intends to play some sort of role on the world stage, and I'm sure he wants to be seen as a statesman - not only so he can maintain some future political influence but also so he can work his way into various roles.

But look: No one should be surprised that Obama wants those things. He could pursue them by yelling and screaming, or he could pursue them by being the bigger man and helping out to the extent he can. He's doing the latter, and you can hardly criticize him for that.

None of this changes my assessment of his presidency as horrible for the country, nor my assessment of his approach to the presidency - the pursuit of an ideological agenda at the expense of the best interests of the country and of all constitutional limits on the office.

But I can't find a thing to criticize about what he's done since the election. Honesty compels me to say so. And it should compel you to recognize it.

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