The Note: The Final Presser for POTUS

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January 18, 2017

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The Note: The Final Presser for POTUS

Obama Leaves on a High Note - Yet with Tepid Career Ratings

Boosted by an improving economy, Barack Obama leaves office with his highest levels of job approval and personal popularity since the early days of his presidency. Yet his career-average ratings are in the lower tier. Sixty percent of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll approve of Obama's job performance, the most since June 2009, five months after he took office. Sixty-one percent approve of his handling of the economy, a career high. And as many express a favorable opinion of him personally, the most since November 2009. Yet Obama's ratings in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, reflect a turnaround for him, not his norm. His average job approval rating across his presidency, 50 percent, is in the lower tier, alongside George W. Bush, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Harry Truman and Carter. ABC's GARY LANGER has more: http://abcn.ws/2jZdsCL

Happening Today - Obama to Hold Final Presidential Press Conference

The press conference comes as Obama prepares to hand the reins of power to President-elect Donald Trump on Friday and a day after Obama granted a commutation to Chelsea Manning, a transgender soldier who was convicted of Espionage Act violations and other charges for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks. ABC's JORDYN PHELPS has more. http://abcn.ws/2jwr8bR

Analysis - ABC's RICK KLEIN

He'll be gone, but not really. And he won't be forgotten any time soon. President Obama appears at his final news conference in office on Wednesday riding a 60 percent approval rating – numbers he didn't see since the months where they were still picking up litter from the National Mall after his first inauguration set a record. When he's back from his post-election family vacation in Palm Springs, Obama will be staying close – and maybe vocal. Ditto Vice President Joe Biden, who referenced 2020 in an interview with Jonathan Alter, semi-joking, "I'll run...if I can walk." It all sets up an administration in exile, with an array of powerful voices – will Michelle Obama Tweet from time to time? – primed to make influential noise. Forty-four and 45 have said relatively nice things about each other so far; what starts to get said Jan. 21?