More than any modern President, Barack Obama had a keen sense of the limits of American power—and of his own. - George Packer

It’s hard to build a narrative around actions not taken, disasters possibly averted, hard realities accommodated. The story of what didn’t happen isn’t an easy one to tell.

Barack Obama was always better at explaining the meaning of democracy than at fighting its opponents.

Trump's legacy includes an extremist Republican Party that tries to hold on to power by flagrantly undemocratic means, and an opposition pushed toward its own version of extremism.