Barack Obama holds final news conference

5:45 PMPresident Barack Obama stepped to the podium in the White House briefing room for the final time Wednesday afternoon and spoke at length about the importance of the media, the history of U.S. presidents, what he believes about the American people and what he plans to do after he leaves office. During the proceedings, he called on reporters by first and last name, a touch that showed the remarkably intimate relationships that a president can form with the people who cover him, particularly over eight years.

As far as overall tone goes, it was standard Obama: measured and slightly long-winded, with a side flair of comedy. Yet, when asked to speak on race relations in America, his reply was nothing but serious. “It is simply not true that things have gotten worse. They haven’t. Things are getting better,” he said. “I have more confidence on racial issues in the next generation than I do in our generation or the previous generation. I think kids are smarter about it. They’re more tolerant, they are more inclusive by instinct than we are. And hopefully my presidency maybe helped that along a little bit.”

Barack Obama with a savage coffee swig pic.twitter.com/tbUvQcNJEP

— Jeff Eisenband (@JeffEisenband) January 18, 2017

Pres. Obama on voting fraud: "This is fake news…we are the only country in the advance world that makes it harder to vote and not easier." pic.twitter.com/DTppBeEfoi

— ABC News (@ABC) January 18, 2017

Overall, it was nothing out of the ordinary, just a man leaving office. No tears, no overly weepy words, just a decent show of respect for the people in the room who showed up to do their jobs. Ultimately, he saved his best words for his response to the final question, when he spoke about his daughters.

“Man, my daughters are something. And they just surprise and enchant and impress me more and more every single day as they grow up. And so these days when we talk, we talk as parent to child but also we learn from them. I think it was really interesting to see how Malia and Sasha reacted [to the election]. They were disappointed. They paid attention to what their mom said during the campaign and believed it because it’s consistent with what we’ve tried to teach them in our household and what I’ve tried to model as a father with their mom. And what we’ve asked them to expect from future boyfriends or spouses. But what we’ve also tried to teach them is resilience. We’ve tried to teach them hope, and that the only thing that’s the end of the world is the end of the world. … They don’t mope.”

Hearing Obama talk about his daughters makes me so happy. Every daughter wants their dad to talk about them w such respect and excitement

— Annamarie Kenoyer (@AhhAnnamarie) January 18, 2017

Obama’s final press conference was eloquent & showed what a class act he is. They gave him many chances to rip Trump; he took the high road.

— Rachel (@RAAnonsense) January 18, 2017

On Friday, Donald Trump will take an oath to become the 45th president of the United States of America. On Wednesday, the 44th ended his news conference with two words: “Good luck.”