Overseas, Obama begins long goodbye

Associated Press

LONDON

Back home, President Barack Obama has eight months, a dogfight over the Supreme Court and scores of campaign speeches for a successor ahead of him. But overseas, the president already has begun a long, slow goodbye.

As Obama wrapped up his valedictory trip to London on Saturday, he looked very much like a president on his way out the door, reflecting on his tenure and eager to shape how he is remembered.

At a town hall with young people, he was asked to look back far more than forward – and he readily obliged. He offered advice for the next president, whoever that is.

And then he carved out an afternoon to get out on the links with Prime Minister David Cameron, one of the few world leaders he’s made a point of describing as a close friend.

“I think that I have been true to myself during this process,” Obama said, reflecting on his presidency and his accomplishments. Obama said he was proud of his health-care overhaul, the Iran-nuclear deal, his handling of what he described as hysteria around the Ebola crisis and “saving the world economy from a Great Depression.”

“That was pretty good,” he said.

The president acknowledged his victory lap was premature, saying, “I don’t think that I’ll have a good sense of my legacy until 10 years from now.”