A survey taken of the Northland class of 2020 showed that out of 26 responses, only 37.5% thought that Barack Obama was a good president and the other 62.5% thought that he was not. On January 20, 2017, in his last hours as president, Obama took an interest in the 220-year-old custom that has become a hallmark of American democracy: The orderly transition of power that comes at the appointed hour when one president takes the oath of office and his predecessor recedes into history. 

On his last morning as president, Obama recommended some of what is to come. In a video discharged by his presidential establishment, Obama said he would take a get-away and afterward profit to work on his legacy project: The Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. “More than a library or a museum, it will be a living, working center for citizenship,” he said.

“True democracy is a project that’s bigger than any one of us. It’s bigger than any one person, any one president, any one government,” he said. “We look forward to joining you in that effort as fellow citizens.”

“Bye-bye,” he said.

As the day began, the Obamas likewise said farewell to the lasting White House staff — the ushers, head servants, cleaning specialists, culinary experts, flower specialists and other family unit laborers who serve leaders of both sides with unwaveringness and carefulness. They gave the Obamas an endowment of two flags: one flown on the first day of the presidency, and one flown the morning of the last day of the presidency.